It looks as if the book were to some degree the subject ofthis lineThe fifth line continues the theme of limitation. If onestudies the nature of water, one sees that it fills a pit only tothe rim and then flows on. It does not stay caught thereThe abyss is not filled to overflowingIt is filled only to the rimBut if, tempted by the danger, and just because of theuncertainty, one were to insist on forcing conviction byspecial efforts, such as elaborate commentaries and the likeone would only be mired in the difficulty, which the top linedescribes very accurately as a tied-up and caged-incondition. Indeed. the last line often shows the consequences that result when one does not take the meaning ofthe hexagram to heartIn our hexagram we have a six in the third place. This yinline of mounting tension changes into a yang line and thusproduces a new hexagram showing a new possibility ortendency. We now have hexagram 48, Ching, THE WELLThe water hole no longer means danger, however, but rathersomething beneficial, a wellThus the superior man encouragesthe people at their work,And exhorts them to help one anotherThe image of people helping one another would seem torefer to the reconstruction of the well. for it is broken downand full of mud. Not even animals drink from it. There arefishes living in it, and one can shoot these, but the well isnot used for drinking, that is, for human needs. Thisdescription is reminiscent of the overturned and unused tingthat is to receive a new handle. Moreover, this well. like theting is cleaned. But no one drinks from it
This is my hearts sorrowFor one might draw from itThe dangerous water hole or abyss pointed to the IChing, and so does the well, but the latter has a positivemeaning it contains the waters of life. It should he restoredto use. But one has no concept(Begriff of it, no utensil withwhich to carry the water; the jug is broken and leaks. Thening needs new handles and carrying rings by which to graspit, and so also the well must be newly lined, for it containsa clear, cold spring from which one can drink." One maydraw water from it, because"it is dependable.It is clear that in this prognosis the speaking subject isagain the I Ching, representing itself as a spring of livingwater. The preceding hexagram described in detail thedanger confronting the person who accidentally falls into thepit within the abyss. He must work his way out of it, inorder to discover that it is an old. ruined well. buried inmud, but capable of being restored to use again.I submitted two questions to the method of chancerepresented by the coin oracle, the second question beingput after I had written my analysis of the answer to the firstThe first question was directed, as it were, to the I Chingwhat had it to say about my intention to write a foreword?The second question concerned my own action, or rather thesituation in which I was the acting subject who haddiscussed the first hexagram. To the first question the IChing replied by comparing itself to a caldron, a ritualvessel in need of renovation, a vessel that was finding onlydoubtful favor with the public. To the second question thereply was that I had fallen into a difficulty, for the I Chingrepresented a deep and dangerous water hole in which onemight easily be mired. However, the water hole proved to bean old well that needed only to be renovated in order to beput to useful purposes once more.
These four hexagrams are in the main consistent asregards theme (vessel, pit, well); and as regards intellectualcontent they seem to be meaningful. Had a human beingmade such replies, I should, as a psychiatrist, have had topronounce him of sound mind, at least on the basis of thematerial presented. Indeed, I should not have been able todiscover anything delirious, idiotic, or schizophrenic in thefour answers In view of the I Chings extreme age and itsChinese origin, I cannot consider its archaic, symbolic, andflowery language abnormal On the contrary, I should havehad to congratulate this hypothetical person on the extent ofhis insight into my unexpressed state of doubt. On the otherhand, any person of clever and versatile mind can turn thewhole thing around and show how I have projected mysubjective contents into the symbolism of the hexagramsSuch a critique, though catastrophic from the standpoint ofWestern rationality does no harm to the function of the IChing. On the contrary, the Chinese sage would smilinglytell me: " Don't you see how useful the I Ching is in makingyou project your hitherto unrealized thoughts into itsabstruse symbolism? You could have written your forewordwithout ever realizing what an avalanche of misun-derstanding might be released by it
The Chinese standpoint does not concern itself as to theattitude one takes toward the performance of the oracle. It isonly we who are puzzled, because we trip time and againover our prejudice, viz, the notion of causality. The ancientwisdom of the East lays stress upon the fact that theintelligent individual realizes his own thoughts. but not inthe least upon the way in which he does it. The less onethinks about the theory of the I Ching, the more soundly oneIt would seem to me that on the basis of this example anunprejudiced reader would now be in a position to formleast a tentative judgment on the operation of the l ChingMore cannot be expected from a simple introduction. If bymeans of this demonstration I have succeeded in elucidatingthe psychological phenomenology of the I Ching, I shallhave carried out my purpose. As to the thousands ofquestions, doubts, and criticisms that this singular book stirsup-I cannot answer these. The 1 Ching does not offer itselfwith proofs and results; it does not vaunt itself, nor is it easyto approach. Like a part of nature, it waits until it isdiscovered. It offers neither facts nor power, but for loversof self-knowledge, of wisdom-if there be such- it seems tobe the right book. To one person its spirt appears as clear asday, to another, shadowy as twilight: to a third, dark asnight. He who is not pleased by it does not have to use it,and he who is against it is not obliged to find it true. Let itgo forth into the world for the benefit of those who candiscern its meaningC G. JUNGZurich, 1949c Copyright Dan Baruth 1999. All rightsreserved