Disciplining the Devil's Country

Hexagram sixty four, as every hexagram, and every line, speaks of overcoming our lower self, our ego, and attaining a higher level of consciousness. In hexagram sixty three line three it says, "The Illustrious Ancestor Disciplines the Devil's country. On a personal level this can indicate to us that we need to take control of ourselves in a given situation. It means that though the battle by and large has been won, there are still "sweeping up" operations that need to be done. In relationships we may need to maintain the same efforts that won the other person even after it seems like they belong to us. In business we have to continue with "sweep up" operations even after we have won the contract. It is the same in our spiritual life. After making connections with the Tao, after gaining access to our inner Buddha, Inner Christ, the universal subconscious mind, what have you, we must on a daily basis maintain that connection. The ego always wants control and to control; and time and time again we will catch ourselves reverting back to our old egoistic self, and employing the "inferior people" which should not be employed. The inferior people are our old habits, attitudes, and thought patterns that created the victimization consciousness we have felt consistently in our lives due to limiting beliefs and incorrect observations of the world leaving us to believe the world is a cold materialistic place and we have no control over it, except in personal little ways. We believe the world is outside of us, and therefore works against us unless we control it. The ego will always revert to a control mechanism, and we must be constantly on the lookout for its resurgence, which disconnects us from the Tao. By always being on the lookout for a return to old behaviors, and old attitudes that make us a victim in some way in our lives, we are, once again, this keeps coming up, practicing "chariot driving" as in hexagram twenty six line three.

Hexagram fifty nine speaks of dispersion but we must look at the context in order to see what exactly it is that is being dispersed. Is it something that we need to do without, or is it something that we need to maintain in our lives? When we receive line two we see that the situation is the beginnings of alienation in our lives. Something is being dispersed that should not be dispersed. We must, of course, be careful to discern whether this is something or someone that we should let go, or is it something that truly belongs to us. If it is the latter then we can safely and "quietly go about the removal of resistances." If it is not then we must allow it or them to go its or their own way.

When it comes to our personal lives, we must always be on the lookout for the signs of resurgence of the ego, and the beginnings of disconnection from the tao. If we search diligently, we are like line one of hexagram twenty four which says in effect, in this context, that "we return from a short distance." In other words, if we are always on guard, if we are always aware of the possibility of a breaking away from our true source, or our significant other, or from our interrelationships on the job or wherever, ultimately from the tao, we catch it immediately and immediately begin to "return from a short distance." We do not want to fall asleep, and allow the situation to get so bad that like line six of twenty four, We "miss the return" and the opportunity is gone. Then the possibility of return becomes much more difficult, although with our own higher self, the tao, the connection is never totally lost. We might lose a loved one, a job, a personal connection, but we never totally lose our connection with the tao, it may be difficult to retrieve it, but not impossible.

Finally, line five of hexagram forty five reminds us that "If there are some who are not yet sincerely in the work, Sublime and enduring perseverance is needed." It is only through continual work and conscientious activity that we recognition the path to return to the "Source," the Tao, and redevelop ourselves, bringing our ego once again into check, renewing our basis for a good relationship, for a good connection with employees and employers, and reestablish what once was established, learning to improve that connection with the source, being able to just let go and trust, and watch the source, the tao, do its work for us, and find that fate is favorable.