05 - Waiting

no2DO - eine Annäherung aus Westen

Contemporary Interpretation

05 - Waiting

My own
abysses / springboards

I, I,
All I,
Open myself
To the world
And discern:
My own
Abysses.
Springboards.

The Changes

yin yang yin yang yang yang

Upper Trigram: Kan, Water

2nd Core Character: Li, Fire

1st Core Character: Dui, Lake

Lower Trigram: Qian, Heaven

Informationen zum Interpretationsmodell

Classical Interpretation

Waiting (05) means »not to progress«.

The image

Clouds raise up to heaven: the image of waiting. Thus the superior man eats and drinks, and is cheerful and merry.

The judgement

The waiting. If you are truthful, you will have light and success. Perseverance brings good fortune. It furthers to cross the great water. Full text of Richard Wilhelm's 1924 translation by Cary F. Baynes

Dynamics of the Hexagram

The Changes: 05 - waiting (nourishment)

Lower Trigram: Qian, the Heaven

Qian represents the zenith of our human potential, a state of mind of clarity and coherence, undisturbed by worries, desires, ... Read more thought loops. When our mind is clear, if we are simultaneously one with ourselves and with our goal, we become creator: the constellating power of our coherent mind, our own living consciousness is able to act upon the unstructured potential that surrounds us, to organize and form it according to our will. Hide

First Change: Qian → Dui, the Lake

Qian is the result of an internal growth process towards greater personal integrity, coherence and clarity. But while Qian ... Read more monologues, Dui starts the dialogue: Dui opens the boundaries of the self and lets the outside, the "you" touch our inside. Result: our self (Qian) becomes alive through animated exchange with the world around us. Hide

Second Change: Dui → Li, the Fire

Li develops when a (solid) yang line is added (red arrow; yang symbolizes energy, activity). We expanded our boundaries and ... Read more - more or less unconditionally - opened towards our environment (Dui). Li (fire) is the instance that analyzes and distinguishes worldly impulses and separates "the clear from the unclear". That what has been received in Dui, is now being processed: releasing the useless and integrating the "clear" into our world view. Hide

Third Change: Li → Kan, the Water

Kan develops when a (broken) yin line is added (dark arrow; yin symbolizes receptivity). Our ability to intellectually differentiate ... Read more impressions, facts, feelings etc. (Li) gives us clarity and creates a sense of calm. A peaceful mind yet makes it easier for us to trustingly open ourselves to the messages from our spiritual grounds (Kan): gut feelings, presentiments, intuitions. Hide

Upper Trigram: Kan, the Water

Kan represents our basic trust and our unconscious resources, a distillate of our own - and sometimes third party ... Read more - experiences and information that lie beyond our daily consciousness. Impulses and inspirations emerge from Kan and may trigger decisions or initiate actions. If we follow this gut feeling our actions will have a special quality: they feel a particular way "right". Hide

Follow the Path of the Dao: A Western Approximation

The interpretations shown above gradually moved away from Eastern concepts. Let us proceed even a little further. In this section I develop a model of interpretation from a Western perspective, more precisely: from the perspective of philosophical anthropology.
A detailed article on the subject can be found here: A Western Approximation

Dem Weg des Dao folgen: Annäherung aus Westen

Exemplary Experiences

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You can help the further development of no2DO by sending me the question you asked the I Ching and its response (the hexagram's name and number). Each hexagram's tendencies open up most clearly when examined in the context of a personal situation.

References and Connotations