Inner Attitude

Hexagram forty nine line two speaks of the need to have a proper "inner attitude." The exact quote is, "The first thing that must be considered is our inner attitude toward the new conditions." It is a truism to say that inner attitude is everything. That is not necessarily the outer attitude, or the attitude we show to others, but the real feeling deep down inside that creates our reality. Hexagram thirty gives us a slight hint of this when it speaks of "The Clinging." There can be no yin without yang and vice versa. There can also be no yang without yin. Yin cleaves to yang and yang to yin, because, while they represent two equal and opposite forces, they are really one. The commentary on hexagram thirty says, "So too the twofold clarity of the dedicated man clings to what is right and thereby can shape the world." Our inner attitude must be one of 'clinging to what is right." When we do this we are in harmony with the "Source of all things," that great universal subconsciousness, and create the reality that is right for us. Before we can do this we must have a transformation of, (revolution in) character. Hexagram thirty five tells us that "The real nature of man is likewise originally good, but it becomes clouded by contact with earthly things and therefore needs purification before it can shine forth in its native clarity." That transformation,revolution, purification, are one and the same things. When we transform ourselves, creating a revolution within, and purify ourselves, then we are able to "shape the world."

But let not a person think that he or she can do this by him or herself. One must have contact with, and cling to the 'bright" and allow that action to work within. One must "retreat" (hexagram thirty three) from the lowly and the mundane, and put his sights on a much higher goal. In this way he does not serve "kings and princes, but sets himself higher goals" (hexagram eighteen line six). The key to becoming a "superior person" is to "develop oneself to such a high degree that they are justified in letting the world go its own way..."

Hexagram forty nine line two also says, "When one's own day comes, one may create revolution." One's own day comes, when he "brightens his bright virtue, and becomes the "superior man." We have "revolutionized ourselves, and created a person who can let the world go by. When we become the superior person then we can create "revolution" in our world. But the "inner attitude" must be correct. We must recognize the "Source" of our power, and not think that we, in our "little" selves can create great changes in our world. We only do so by creating change in ourselves and then change in the outer world comes automatically, with us realizing nothing, except noting the changes within ourselves. Attitude is everything. Our inner attitude creates. We must "practice chariot driving daily" until we forge within ourselves the understanding of the true nature of the universe. When we have changed ourselves, then as line four of forty nine says, "Remorse disappears. Men believe him. Changing ... brings good fortune. We create our own reality.