Theme
The Firm and the Yielding
Carried by fifteen chapters
In the constellation
TaoDevotion51 The Arousing58 The Joyous, Lake07 The Army21 Biting Through37 The Family44 Coming to Meet13 Fellowship with Men22 Grace36 Darkening of the light53 Development62 Preponderance of the Small08 Holding Together27 Corners of the Mouth61 Inner Truth02 The ReceptiveThe MeanThe TimeReturnLight and Darkness
The firm and the yielding are the two kinds of line from which every hexagram is built — the unbroken yang line and the broken yin line — and their interplay is the engine of all change. Wilhelm describes each at the head of the book. Of the Creative:
These unbroken lines stand for the primal power, which is light-giving, active, strong, and of the spirit.
And of the Receptive:
The broken lines represents the dark, yielding, receptive primal power of yin.
Neither is good or bad in itself; everything depends on place and time. A firm line in a firm place is strong and correct; a firm line where yielding is called for becomes hardness, and a yielding line out of place becomes weakness. The whole art of reading the oracle is watching how firm and yielding meet, support, or oppose one another — the concrete form taken by the one Tao in its endless movement.