59 story

The image of hexagram 59
Huàn, the flood, dispersion

Hexagram 59 has trigram Kăn, Water, below or inside, Xùn, Wind, above or outside. Kăn has no form, Xùn spreads it around, this is what we experience as dispersion. Positive as solution, negative as disintegration or entropy.

What does it mean, 'inner' and 'outer trigram' (popup)

When trigram Kăn is below (popup)

When trigram Xùn is above (popup)

Kăn below Xùn: Xùn outside 'does what it does', Kăn gives no inner or personal structure.
Water (especially when higher because of a full moon) swept up by the wind has been a cause of many floods. In China the Yellow River caused millions of deaths. But there are also small floods, a project which disintegrates, a mind which melts into despair or a burnout, a responsibility which grows above your head. Some floods bring only disaster, but most bring experience, wisdom or courage as well.

The old diviners gave this combination of trigrams a name: Huàn, dispersion, like a flood can 'disperse' a region. Everyone knows floods, usually small ones, but there are also many big floods which can disrupt a life or even a town or a country.

Ideogram of the hexagram name: at left water or a stream, at right lively, excellent, beautiful. It is a drawing of a person on a cover or roof and two hands below. To me it looks like a flooded house with the inhabitants on the roof. Its meaning (excellent, gay, beautiful) seems to have little to do with floods. Disperse, expand, scatter, ample. It is not a common character, there is very little information to be found.

The 'Great Image' says: Winds blowing over the waters: flood. The ancient kings presented offerings to the Lord and established temples.
Dispersion, both in the form of huge or tiny floods, is beyond human means of prevention or solution. One needs the assistance of higher powers, of gods and spirits, of intuition and alignment with universe.

  Hex.59 is the contrast of 55, which is about gathering all forces in order to conquer.
  Hex.59 is about coping with dissolution or even discomposition of certainties, but also with the (dis)solution of problems.
  Hex.59 is 'inverse' to 60, restraint, Duì, Lake, below or inside, Kăn, Water, above or outside, where structures come from inside or the base.

  Story:
   Floods are huge disasters, destroying everything they touch. Together with fire they are the biggest fear of all living creatures. This hexagram gives advice for dealing with it, because even the worst disaster offers small openings.
  A flood destroys all the old structures, paving the way for a new, fresh and as yet clean life, open for new possibilities.
  For a life with an open gateway to the cosmos, man’s mind needs deluges. Dissolving all the rigid structures, like opinions, prejudices, ties, obligations. They all give a feeling of security, but they restrict and narrow down. They take away the essential deep security of universal openness.
  Having to save one’s life puts many other things back in the place where they belong, often even completely out of sight.

The image of hexagram 59 Huàn, the flood, dispersion

The image of hexagram 59
Huàn, the flood, dispersion