Aspen Aerogels ASPN under CEO Donald R. Young

Aspen Aerogels ASPN under CEO Donald R. Young

 

 

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

 

0 Nine in the second place means:

One meets his lord in a narrow street.

No blame.

As a result of misunderstandings,

it has become impossible for people who by nature belong together

to meet in the correct way.

This being so,

an accidental meeting under informal circumstances

may serve the purpose,

provided there is an inner affinity between them.

 

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.
  

 

0 Six in the fifth place means:

Remorse disappears.

The companion bites his way through the wrappings.

If one goes to him,

How could it be a mistake?

Coming upon a sincere man,

• one fails to recognize him at first because of the general estrangement.
  

However,

• he bites his way through the wrappings that are causing the separation.
  

When such a companion thus reveals himself in his true character,

it is one’s duty

• to go to meet him and
  
• to work with him.
  

 

Nine at the top means:

Isolated through opposition,

One sees one’s companion

• as a pig covered with dirt,
  
• As a wagon full of devils.
  

First

• one draws a bow against him,
  

Then

• one lays the bow aside.
  

• He is not a robber;
  
• he will woo at the right time.
  

As one goes, rain falls;

then good fortune comes.

Here

the isolation is due to misunderstanding;

it is brought about

• not by outer circumstances
  
• but by inner conditions.
  

A man misjudges his best friends, taking them to be

• as unclean as a dirty pig and
  
• as dangerous as a wagon full of devils.
  

He adopts an attitude of defense.

But in the end, realizing his mistake,

he lays aside the bow,

perceiving that the other is approaching with the best intentions

for the purpose of close union.

Thus

the tension is relieved.

• The union resolves the tension,
  

just as

• falling rain relieves the sultriness preceding a thunderstorm.
  

All goes well,

for just when

• opposition reaches its climax
  
• it changes over to its antithesis.
  

 

 

MOVING HEXAGRAM

 

 

HEXAGRAM 03 – Chun – Difficulty at the Beginning

Above    K’AN    THE ABYSMAL, WATER

Below    CHEN    THE AROUSING, THUNDER

The name of the hexagram, Chun, really connotes

a blade of grass pushing against an obstacle

as it sprouts out of the earth hence the meaning, “difficulty at the beginning.”

The hexagram indicates the way in which heaven and earth bring forth individual beings.

It is their first meeting, which is beset with difficulties.

The lower trigram Chen is the Arousing;

• its motion is upward and
  
• its image is thunder.
  

The upper trigram K’an stands for the Abysmal, the dangerous.

• Its motion is downward and
  
• its image is rain.
  

The situation points to teeming, chaotic profusion;

thunder and rain fill the air.

But the chaos clears up.

• While the Abysmal sinks,
  
• the upward movement eventually passes beyond the danger.
  
• A thunderstorm brings release from tension, and
  
• all things breathe freely again.
  

 

THE JUDGMENT

DIFFICULTY AT THE BEGINNING works supreme success,

Furthering through perseverance.

Nothing should be undertaken.

It furthers one to appoint helpers.

Times of growth are beset with difficulties.

They resemble a first birth.

But these difficulties arise from the very profusion of all that is struggling to attain form.

Everything is in motion:

therefore if one perseveres there is a prospect of great success, in spite of the existing danger.

When it is a man’s fate to undertake such new beginnings, everything is still unformed, dark.

Hence he must hold back, because any premature move might bring disaster.

Likewise, it is very important not to remain alone;

in order to overcome the chaos he needs helpers.

This is not to say, however, that he himself should look on passively at what is happening.

He must lend his hand and participate with inspiration and guidance.

 

THE IMAGE

Clouds and thunder: The image Of DIFFICULTY AT THE BEGINNING.

Thus the superior man

Brings order out of confusion.

Clouds and thunder are represented by definite decorative lines;

this means that in the chaos of difficulty at the beginning, order is already implicit.

So too the superior man has to arrange and organize the inchoate profusion of such times of beginning, just as one sorts out silk threads from a knotted tangle and binds them into skeins.

In order to find one’s place in the infinity of being,

one must be able both

• to separate and
  
• to unite.
  

 

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