Inner Pressure Part II

When we let go and allow the other person to come or go as they choose, we release that "inner pressure." Often, however, we are not aware of our own psychological makeup or our hangups. We travel through life always seeking for something that is never found, because by seeking it, we create this "inner pressure" not just in other people, but in the actual thing that we seek. There is a psychological pressure created within ourselves that manifests in the material world.

We are not aware of doing this however, because we all have a "blind spot" within; a blind spot in our way of thinking. We filter out the data that would tell us of our own psychological makeup. As such, hexagram ten line six tells us that "no one knows himself. It is only by the consequences of his actions...that a man can judge what he is to expect." When we receive hexagram four line four in our personal readings for wisdom, it may very well be telling you that you have a "blind spot" in your thinking. You may have a blind spot in receiving the transmitted wisdom from the I Ching, or you may have a blind spot in your way of looking at yourself and/or the world. The commentary on the line speaks of "clinging to unreal fantasies." We cling to unreal fantasies when we have a distorted image of ourselves; and almost always we see ourselves differently than others see us. (That is not to say others usually do not have a distorted image of us as well.) We all see things based on our own inner psychology, and we believe what we believe about the world due to inner road maps of the territory that distort our conclusions when new facts become available to us. We all wear rose colored glasses, it is just different parts of our environment that are colored, according to a person's own psychological makeup. As such we "cannot know ourselves, but only can weigh the results of our actions to get to know ourselves better."

The wise man knows that he is clinging to fantasies. He does all he can to attach himself to the real, but as he uncovers more and more of himself, he recognizes more and more that he is living in an "unreal" world of his own making. When we live in an unreal world, we "are oppressed by stone, and lean on thorns and thistles." (Hexagram forty seven line two.) But the wise man, in order to secure for himself a more favorable journey through life, "Treads a smooth level course." Hexagram ten line two tells us that the wise man "seeks nothing, and asks nothing of anyone else, and is not dazzled by enticing goals. He is true to himself and travels through life unassailed..." When we simply stick to our business, simply keep ourselves to the business at hand, and do not interfere with others, we find that others respond to us more easily and more relaxed, and the things that we need for our life come to us of their own accord, without "forcing the issue," (hexagram thirty four) and without an inner dependency on our part or theirs. Simply said, as in hexagram sixty one, those who have an inner accord will find each other without "forcing the issue." It simply happens.