Twitter TWTR under CEO Parag Agrawal

Twitter TWTR under CEO Parag Agrawal

 

HEXAGRAM 43 – Kuai – Break-through (Resoluteness)

Above    Tui        THE JOYOUS, LAKE

Below    CH’IEN    THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN

This hexagram signifies

on the one hand

• a break-through after a long accumulation of tension,
  

  as a swollen river breaks through its dikes, or in the manner of a cloudburst.
  

On the other hand, applied to human conditions,

• it refers to the time when inferior people gradually begin to disappear.
  

Their influence is on the wane;

as a result of resolute action,

• a change in conditions occurs,
  
• a break-through.
  

The hexagram is linked with the third month [April-May].

 

THE JUDGMENT

BREAK-THROUGH.

• One must resolutely make the matter known At the court of the king.
  
• It must be announced truthfully.
  

Danger.

It is necessary to notify one’s own city.

• It does not further to resort to arms.
  
• It furthers one to undertake something.
  

• Even if only one inferior man is occupying a ruling position in a city, he
  
  • is able to oppress superior men.
    
• Even a single passion still lurking in the heart
  
  • has power to obscure reason.
    
• Passion and reason cannot exist side by side – therefore
  
  • fight without quarter is necessary if the good is to prevail.
    

In a resolute struggle of the good against evil, there are, however,

definite rules that must not be disregarded, if it is to succeed.

1. First,
   

   resolution must be based on a union of
   

• strength and
  
• friendliness.
  

1. Second,
   

   a compromise with evil is not possible;
   

• evil must under all circumstances be openly discredited.
  
• Nor must our own passions and shortcomings be glossed over.
  

1. Third,
   

   the struggle must not be carried on directly by force.
   

If

• evil is branded,
  
  • it thinks of weapons,
    

and

if

• we do it the favor of fighting against it blow for blow,
  
  • we lose in the end
    

because thus

• we ourselves get entangled in hatred and passion.
  

Therefore

1. it is important
   

• to begin at home,
  
• to be on guard in our own persons against the faults we have branded.
  

In this way,

• finding no opponent,
  
• the sharp edges of the weapons of evil become dulled.
  

For the same reasons

1. we should not combat our own faults directly.
   

• As long as we wrestle with them,
  
• they continue victorious.
  

Finally,

1. the best way to fight evil is to make energetic progress in the good.
   

 

THE IMAGE

The lake has risen up to heaven: The image of BREAK-THROUGH.

Thus the superior man

• Dispenses riches downward
  

And

• refrains from resting on his virtue.
  

• When the water of a lake has risen up to heaven,
  
  • there is reason to fear a cloudburst.
    
• Taking this as a warning,
  
  • the superior man forestalls a violent collapse.
    

If

• a man were to pile up riches for himself alone, without considering others,
  
• he would certainly experience a collapse.
  

For all gathering is followed by dispersion.

Therefore

the superior man begins to distribute while he is accumulating.

In the same way,

in developing his character

he takes care

• not to become hardened in obstinacy
  

but

• to remain receptive to impressions
  

  by help of strict and continuous self-examination.
  

 

THE LINES

 

Nine at the beginning means:

Mighty in the forward-striding toes.

When

• one
  
  • goes
    

  and
  

  • is not equal to the task
    
• One
  
  • makes a mistake.
    

In times of a resolute advance,

the beginning is especially difficult.

• We
  
  • feel inspired to press forward but resistance is still strong;
    

therefore

• we
  
  • ought to gauge our own strength
    

  and
  

  • venture only so far as we can go with certainty of success.
    

To plunge blindly ahead is wrong,

• because it is precisely at the beginning
  

that

• an unexpected setback can have the most disastrous results.
  

 

Six at the top means:

No cry.

In the end misfortune comes.

Victory seems to have been achieved.

There remains merely a remnant of the evil resolutely to be eradicated

as the time demands.

Everything looks easy.

Just there, however, lies the danger.

If

we are not on guard,

• evil will succeed in escaping by means of concealment,
  

and

when

it has eluded us

• new misfortunes will develop from the remaining seeds,
  

  for evil does not die easily.
  

So too in dealing with the evil in one’s own character,

• one must go to work with thoroughness.
  

If out of carelessness anything were to be overlooked,

• new evil would arise from it.
  

 

 

MOVING HEXAGRAM

 

 

HEXAGRAM 44 – Kou – Coming to Meet

Above    CH’IEN    THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN

Below    SUN    THE GENTLE, WIND

This hexagram indicates a situation in which the principle of darkness,

after having been eliminated,

furtively and unexpectedly obtrudes again from within and below.

Of its own accord the female principle comes to meet the male.

• It is an unfavorable and dangerous situation, and
  
• we must understand and promptly prevent the possible consequences.
  

The hexagram is linked with the fifth month [June-July],

because at the summer solstice

the principle of darkness gradually becomes ascendant again.

 

THE JUDGMENT

COMING TO MEET.

The maiden is powerful.

One should not marry such a maiden.

The rise of the inferior element is pictured here in the image of

a bold girl who

• lightly surrenders herself and
  
• thus seizes power.
  

This would not be possible if the strong and light-giving element had not in turn come halfway.

• The inferior thing seems so harmless and inviting that
  
  • a man delights in it;
    
• it looks so small and weak that
  
  • he imagines he may dally with it and come to no harm.
    

The inferior man rises only because the superior man

• does not regard him as dangerous and so
  
• lends him power.
  

If

• he were resisted from the first,
  
• he could never gain influence.
  

The time of COMING TO MEET is important in still another way.

Although as a general rule the weak should not come to meet the strong,

there are times when this has great significance.

• When heaven and earth come to meet each other, all creatures prosper;
  
• when a prince and his official come to meet each other, the world is put in order.
  

It is necessary for elements predestined to be joined and mutually dependent

to come to meet one another halfway.

But the coming together must be free of dishonest ulterior motives,

otherwise harm will result.

 

THE IMAGE

Under heaven, wind: The image Of COMING TO MEET.

Thus does the prince act when

• disseminating his commands And
  
• proclaiming them to the four quarters of heaven.
  

The situation here resembles that in hexagram 20, Kuan, CONTEMPLATION (VIEW).

• In the latter the wind blows over the earth,
  
• here it blows under heaven;
  

in both cases it goes everywhere.

There the wind

• is on the earth and
  
• symbolizes the ruler taking note of the conditions in his kingdom;
  

here the wind

• blows from above and
  
• symbolizes the influence exercised by the ruler through his commands.
  

• Heaven is far from the things of earth, but
  
  • it sets them in motion by means of the wind.
    
• The ruler is far from his people, but
  
  • he sets them in motion by means of his commands and decrees.
    

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