Match Group MTCH under CEO Amanda Ginsberg

 

HEXAGRAM 38 – K’uei – Opposition

Above    LI    THE CLINGING, FLAME

Below    TUI    THE JOYOUS, LAKE

This hexagram is composed of the trigram

• Li above, i.e., flame, which burns upward, and
  
• Tui below, i.e., the lake, which seeps downward.
  

These two movements are in direct contrast.

Furthermore,

• Li is the second daughter and
  
• Tui the youngest daughter, and
  

although

they live in the same house

they belong, to different men;

hence their wills

• are not the same
  
• but are divergently directed.
  

 

THE JUDGMENT

OPPOSITION.

In small matters, good fortune.

When people live in

• opposition and
  
• estrangement
  

they cannot carry out a great undertaking in common;

their points of view diverge too widely.

In such circumstances

• one should above all not proceed brusquely,
  

  for that would only increase the existing opposition;
  

instead,

• one should limit oneself to producing gradual effects in small matters.
  

Here success can still be expected,

because

the situation is such that

the opposition does not preclude all agreement.

In general,

opposition appears as an obstruction, but when

• it represents polarity within a comprehensive whole,
  
• it has also its useful and important functions.
  

The oppositions of

• heaven and earth,
  
• spirit and nature,
  
• man and woman,
  

when reconciled,

bring about the creation and reproduction of life.

In the world of visible things,

the principle of opposites makes possible

the differentiation by categories

through which order is brought into the world.

 

THE IMAGE

Above, fire,

below, the lake:

The image of OPPOSITION.

Thus amid all fellowship

The superior man retains his individuality.

The two elements, fire and water,

never mingle

but even when in contact

retain their own natures.

So

• the cultured man is never led into baseness or vulgarity
  

  through intercourse or community of interests with persons of another sort;
  

  regardless of all commingling,
  

• he will always preserve his individuality.
  

 

THE LINES

Nine at the beginning means:

Remorse disappears.

• If you lose your horse,
  
  • do not run after it; It will come back of its own accord.
    
• When you see evil people,
  
  • Guard yourself against mistakes.
    

Even in times when oppositions prevail,

• mistakes can be avoided, so that
  
• remorse disappears.
  

When opposition begins to manifest itself,

• a man must not try to bring about unity by force, for by so doing
  
• he would only achieve the contrary,
  

just as

• a horse goes farther and farther away
  
  • if one runs after it.
    
• it is one’s own horse, one can safely let it go;
  
  • it will come back of its own accord.
    

So too

• when someone who belongs with us is momentarily estranged
  

  because of a misunderstanding,
  

• he will return of his own accord
  

  if we leave matters to him.
  

On the other hand,

it is well to be cautious when

evil men who do not belong with us force themselves upon us,

again as the result of a misunderstanding.

Here the important thing is to avoid mistakes.

• We must not try to shake off these evil men by force;
  
  • this would give rise to real hostility.
    
• We must simply endure them.
  
  • They will eventually withdraw of their own accord.
    

Six in the third place means:

One sees the wagon dragged back,

The oxen halted.

A man’s hair and nose cut off.

• Not a good beginning,
  
• but a good end.
  

Often it seems to a man as though everything were conspiring against him.

He sees himself

• checked and hindered in his progress,
  
• insulted and
  
• dishonored.1
  

However,

• he must not let himself be misled; despite this opposition,
  
• he must cleave to the man with whom he knows he belongs.
  

Thus, notwithstanding the bad beginning,

the matter will end well.

Nine in the fourth place means:

Isolated through opposition,

• One meets a like-minded man With whom
  
• one can associate in good faith.
  

Despite the danger, no blame.

• If a man finds himself in a company of people from whom
  

  he is separated by an inner opposition,
  

  • he becomes isolated.
    
• But if in such a situation a man meets someone
  
  • who fundamentally, by the very law of his being, is kind to him, and
    
  • whom he can trust completely,
    
• he overcomes all the dangers of isolation.
  
• His will achieves its aim, and
  
• he becomes free of faults.
  

 

MOVING HEXAGRAM

 

HEXAGRAM 18 – Ku – Work on What Has Been Spoiled (Decay)

Above    KEN    KEEPING STILL,     MOUNTAIN

Below    SUN     THE GENTLE, WIND

The Chinese character Ku represents a bowl

in whose contents worms are breeding.

This means decay.

It has come about because

• the gentle indifference of the lower trigram has come together with
  
• the rigid inertia of the upper, and
  

the result is stagnation.

Since this implies guilt,

the conditions embody a demand for removal of the cause.

Hence the meaning of the hexagram is

• not simply “what has been spoiled”
  
• but “work on what has been spoiled.”
  

 

THE JUDGMENT

WORK ON WHAT HAS BEEN SPOILED

Has supreme success.

It furthers one to cross the great water.

Before the starting point, three days.

After the starting point, three days.

What has been spoiled through man’s fault can be made good again through man’s work.

• It is not immutable fate, as, in the time of STANDSTILL,
  

  that has caused the state of corruption,
  

• but rather the abuse of human freedom.
  

Work toward improving conditions promises well,

because it accords with the possibilities of the time.

We

• must not recoil from work and danger –
  

  symbolized by crossing of the great water – but
  

• must take hold energetically.
  

Success depends, however, on proper deliberation.

This is expressed by the lines,

• “Before the starting point, three days.
  
• After the starting point, three days.”
  

We must first know the causes of corruption

before we can do away with them;

hence it is necessary to be cautious during the time before the start.

Then

we must see to it that the new way is safely entered upon, so that

a relapse may be avoided;

therefore

we must pay attention to the time after the start.

• Decisiveness and
  
• energy
  

must take the place of the

• inertia and
  
• indifference
  

that have led to decay,

in order that the ending may be followed by a new beginning.

 

THE IMAGE

The wind blows low on the mountain: The image Of DECAY.

Thus the superior man

• stirs up the people And
  
• strengthens their spirit.
  

• When the wind blows low on the mountain,
  
• it is thrown back and spoils the vegetation.
  

This contains a challenge to improvement.

It is the same with

• debasing attitudes and
  
• fashions;
  

they corrupt human society.

To do away with this corruption,

the superior man must regenerate society.

His methods likewise must be derived from the two trigrams,

but in such a way that their effects unfold in orderly sequence.

The superior man

• must first remove stagnation by stirring up public opinion,
  
  • as the wind stirs everything, and
    
• must then strengthen and tranquilize the character of the people,
  
  • as the mountain gives tranquility and nourishment to all that grows in its vicinity.
    

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