Fortifies Their Thinking

The image in hexagram ten tells us that the superior man "discriminates between high and low, and fortifies the thinking of the people. When we have that connection, (hexagram eleven) between heaven and earth, the conscious and the universal subconsciousness, between ruler and subject, and between male and female, or to the others in our society, then our thinking can be fortified. For we never fully connect (their is always at least a limited connection, it is just a matter of how much we realize it) until we have learned to meditate so deeply that we come to be in touch with that inner primal being, that universal "I". That universal I is always there but it cannot contact us in any meaningful way until we are willing to recognize that there is something higher than us, (hexagram ten) and do meditate deeply enough that we come to be in touch with it. The more our inner and outer beings are connected, the more the world acquiesces to us, and the safer we are. When we are in this position, then as it says in the Tao Teh Ching, "I have heard that those who celebrate life walk safely among the wild animals. When they go into battle, they remain unharmed. The animals find no place to attack them and the weapons are unable to harm them. Why? Because they can find no place for death in them." The same concept is presented in the Biblical ninty first Psalm, which begins, "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." and goes on to say, "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day. Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee." (East and West are not so far apart as we might first think."

It is through meditation that our connection is made, and we "abide under the shadow of the Almighty." We must be as the superior man in hexagram fifty one who "does not let the sacrificial spoon fall." When we allow for a superior power in our lives, one who is not outside of us, but nevertheless not ego, we begin slowly, by "practicing chariot driving daily," to connect in deeper ways, until eventually we reach that point where there is no fear within us, and when there is no fear, then "no weapon will find a place to enter."

The "animals" in chapter fifty of the Tao Teh Ching, can be a symbol for negative thoughts, for fears, for emotions that are not laid to rest, not superceded, and are creating internal damage in our psyche. Their destructive vibrations create disharmony within which, in time, in the outer world, (what appears to be the outer world) open space for the "weapon to enter." The weapon too, can be a symbol of the creation within of an outer act that harms us, maybe not even physically, but emotionally, or spiritually. When we are not at peace, when we are not at harmony as in hexagram eleven, we create external conditions that eventually come back to bite us. (See hexagram twenty one).

In our relationships too, fear can disable us, can create disharmony in the relationship. It may even create a mental block of thinking which "discriminates between high and low, (image hexagram ten) in a negative way, creating tension in the relationship. We discriminate between high and low when we look down upon our partner, consider them lesser, or do not open ourselves up to true communication within. We allow "poisonous arrows" (hexagram twenty one) to enter our emotional state. We cut off communications. We "fortify our own thinking" at the expense of the other, and we "distance ourselves from our partners," not giving them the support that they so desperately need from us. We do not honor them rather than subordinating ourselves to the needs of the relationship as a whole, as taught us in hexagram eleven line five. And communication is effectively cut off. Then as in hexagram eleven line six, "The wall falls back into the moat," and yin and yang do not complement each other but instead combat each other. We must acquiesce to that connection, and let the universal Spirit take over our lives, and say as with Jesus, "Not my will, but thine be done."