Jun 01 21
Ace of Swords
34. The Power of the Great
Petite Reading
If one is in possession of power (personal or political) there is always a danger of being carried along by its momentum risking horrid automatization. Power is not a vacation. Power is effective force actualized — like if you are the pilot of a commercial airplane you should probably stay awake — maybe even pay attention. An additional modifier, paraphrasing a little bit of the beginning of Adorno’s Minima Moralia: philosophy became science became science of production yielding intellectual neglect and automatization. (This is a danger of the self as well.)
Complete Reading
This week we pulled the Ace of Swords. Any Ace represents the paradigmatic quality of a particular suit. Here we have the Ace of Swords — a typification of the two sided nature of power — the possibility of preventing conflict or causing it. The way here would be something like, think before you act. The directed energy of a sword is not reversible.
Our first hexagram this week is #34, The Power of the Great (there were no changes this week so how we exit the week will be relatively how we enter it). This hexagram details a moment where our “movement and strength” are coalescing. It seems like this would be a time to let momentum just take its course, however there are tight warnings here: “The hexagram points to a time when inner worth mounts with great force and comes to power. But its strength has already passed beyond the median line, hence there is danger that one may rely entirely on one’s own power and forget to ask what is right. There is danger too that, being intent on movement, we may not wait for the right time… For that is truly great power which does not degenerate into mere force but remains inwardly united with the fundamental principles of right and of justice. When we understand this point — namely, that greatness and justice must be indissolubly united — we understand the true meaning of all that happens in heaven and on earth.”
If one is in possession of power (personal or political) there is always a danger of being carried along by its momentum risking horrid automatization. Power is not a vacation. Power is effective force actualized — like if you are the pilot of a commercial airplane you should probably stay awake — maybe even pay attention. An additional modifier, paraphrasing a little bit of the beginning of Adorno’s Minima Moralia: philosophy became science became science of production yielding intellectual neglect and automatization. (This is a danger of the self as well.)
Complete Reading
This week we pulled the Ace of Swords. Any Ace represents the paradigmatic quality of a particular suit. Here we have the Ace of Swords — a typification of the two sided nature of power — the possibility of preventing conflict or causing it. The way here would be something like, think before you act. The directed energy of a sword is not reversible.
Our first hexagram this week is #34, The Power of the Great (there were no changes this week so how we exit the week will be relatively how we enter it). This hexagram details a moment where our “movement and strength” are coalescing. It seems like this would be a time to let momentum just take its course, however there are tight warnings here: “The hexagram points to a time when inner worth mounts with great force and comes to power. But its strength has already passed beyond the median line, hence there is danger that one may rely entirely on one’s own power and forget to ask what is right. There is danger too that, being intent on movement, we may not wait for the right time… For that is truly great power which does not degenerate into mere force but remains inwardly united with the fundamental principles of right and of justice. When we understand this point — namely, that greatness and justice must be indissolubly united — we understand the true meaning of all that happens in heaven and on earth.”