Unfolding through

A planar unfolding is like peeling the lattice. In this example the four core lines, representing the range and extent of Being, are stable in each facet. The two outermost lines, matter and pattern, are the focus of change. In The Yijing as a Symbolic Language of Abstraction this unfolding is called the extrovert unfolding, simply because the changes are focused in the outermost aspects of the situations. In fact, these are the aspects most remote from Being, below and above its limits. In that sense, a better name for this unfolding, if we concentrate on the changes in each facet, might be "physics and metaphysics". Flip the perception and, as noted, the unchanging background to each facet is the full range of Being.

Because of the gradual nature of my pentration into understanding, this page remains a work in progress. But, of course, that's true of everything.

The first facet for each unfolding always sets the stage...

0 - Defining the Changes

So, Receptive is pure emptyness, accepting every pattern of change without inversion. This is the peak of winter and the basis of every unfolding. Yin 陰 is not just the absence of energy, but also the space where it manifests.

The First Spark follows, entering immediately below perception, in subsense, qi 氣. This is the first step on a long stroll around the lattice; a string of situations that eventually brings you full circle. The last knot in the string is horizontally opposite in this facet, a single yang 陽 above. This Binds progression into abstraction, pattern.

These two middle hexagrams are Α and Ω in the canonical cyclic path. They also play the same roles in the traditional seasonal cycle. They are one step either side of emptiness.

Their energetic convergence is the Gate in the top of the facet, linking the Α and Ω. This role is also realised for this figure in the coherent paired ascent through the spectrum.


1- Embodying the Spark
At the base, the spark of matter rises into the energy of the body and creates a flowing circumstance. This is the Groundswell, the uninfluenced state of the first stage of the progression.

Its polar partner in the facet, its enfolding in the gate, is Sacrifice. Here, the energy of the material gives something up to pattern, acknowledgement that the concrete depends on the abstract for its form.

The Α context in this facet is, at the outset, the thickening of the first spark into something perceptable. And in the endset, in the Ω context, the binding of the flow.


2 - A Thickening Ascension
After it thickens, the spark Ascends. This is the base of the facet, the upward evolution of energy.

Its polar opposite in the facet is the Boolean opposite of its overturning - what?! The Boolean opposite of is and the overturning of that is . Or, = o(~). There are three other facets with this property in this unfolding, can you spot them?

Anyway, the opposite of an opposite should be conceptually close to the starting point. So, as energy moves and develops, it needs to be bound and contained.

Suspended between the two poles, Balance is the Α context: a necessity if a developing system is to endure. And across the facet, in the Ω context Roots are Bound; a warning to avoid binding too early.


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10 - The Crest of the Wave
The base of this facet is the heaviness of yang, the unsustainably weighted centre. This sets the scene for the whole facet, determining the dominant aspects of the other hexagrams in the structure.

As the top pole, the peak of the peak, Energy, so full there's no room for movement. This is the heart of the problem, the nuclear hexagram of .

Here, with the Α and Ω under the influence of the basic energy, the first is the danger of overconfidence at the moment of decisive breakthrough and the second is the danger of underestimation as the gentle influence is first felt.

This is the only way to reach the ultimate for those actively working in the context of in .


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12 - The Importance of Family
The root 本 of this facet is the 3rd in Fire Circulating. Firey Spirit. Unsupported in that root position, rollback is overwhelmed. But just a quantum of support is enough to lift this to a fire of perfect harmony. Completely enfolded in the support of family is the top of the facet, this is 2nd in Water Circulating. Support at the end when gradualy, stillness is penetrated, brings completion.


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14 - The Limits of Being
The basic energy here defines the limits of Being, the combined energy of the body and the spirit, always flowing, each into the other.

The Α point articulates the natural limit and limitations of the possibilities. And the Ω point disperses the obstacles to illumination, eliminates the limitations.  As linear opposites, mutual overturnings, these aspects are tightly coupled.

Then, the peak of the facet shows the true heart of Being as emptiness.


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