{"id":6322,"date":"2022-01-11T17:12:09","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T16:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.no2do.com\/synopse?p=6322"},"modified":"2024-09-17T16:31:25","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T14:31:25","slug":"dem-weg-der-wandlungen-folgen-annaeherung-aus-westen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.no2do.com\/synopse\/en\/archives\/6322","title":{"rendered":"Follow the Path of the Dao: A Western Approximation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The interpretations of individual hexagram<\/a>s (as for example hexagram 11 – peace<\/a> ) start out with Eastern concepts, but from there success<\/a>ively move on . If one wants to follow this approach further and interpret the hexagrams from a perspective that is even stronger rooted in Western thinking, philosophical anthropology provides a good framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

For this purpose, let us start again with trigram<\/a>s. What would happen if we combined what we have learned so far about the trigrams with our Western view of human beings?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Human Being: Bound in Opposites<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the core questions of Western philosophy is, as Kant put it, “What is man?” Philosophical anthropology answers this question with concepts such as “relationship to ourselves \/ relationship to the world”, “individual \/ society” or “body \/ psyche” (or subjective, lived body \/ objectified body). All of these are pairs of opposites in which we are inescapably bound. Just as we are in the interplay of Yin and Yang<\/a>…<\/p>\n\n\n

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Trigrams positioned within the yin<\/a>-yang<\/a> symbol (here, by the way, not the widely known Taijitu symbol for “individual yin and yang”, but the Hotu symbol, which stands for yin and yang of the world; cf. Wikipedia<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Let’s remember what we know about yin and yang – the pair of opposites which is classically explained with the following examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yin<\/strong><\/td>Yang<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
dark<\/td>bright<\/td><\/tr>
empty<\/td>full<\/td><\/tr>
cold<\/td>hot<\/td><\/tr>
inside<\/td>outside<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In this sense, we could now complement this dichotomy with the following Western concepts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yin<\/strong><\/td>Yang<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
Self and self-relation<\/td>Ego and world-relation<\/td><\/tr>
individual<\/td>society<\/td><\/tr>
psyche and lived body<\/td>objectified body<\/td><\/tr>
“I-entirely-with-me”<\/td>“I-in-the-world”<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Self-Relation and World-Relation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The development that is represented by a hexagram can thus also be understood as a winding path meandering between the opposing poles of “I-entirely-with-me” (self and self-relation; dark area of the graphic) and “I-in-the-world” (world-relation; white area of the graphic).<\/p>\n\n\n

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Trigrams within the yin-yang symbol: positions of varying stability<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Thereby, the various positions that the trigrams take within the yin-yang symbol are qualitatively different. They vary from calm-stable<\/em> over dynamic-moving<\/em> to dynamic-tilting<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n