Hexagram 58 “Joy”: Haiku and Commentary
Great inspiration:
Joy within, joy without,
Balanced and correct.
6
Insubstantial joy,
flattering and cajoling.
Most unenlightened.
5
Bringing joy to the
fallen, your sincerity
inspires right action.
4
Deliberating
brings about unease. Release.
Be independent.
3
Pretensions of joy:
a smiling face hides inner
hollowness. Dismay.
2
Joyful and sincere,
confident now in your aims.
Regret vanishes.
1
Joyful harmony,
no selfishness, no doubt.
Greatly auspicious.
Lake over Lake; Joy over Joy. There is little agreement about meanings concerning this Hexagram. The general sense is of joy in companionship, of shared exchange. This notion is derived from the image of joined Lakes replenishing one another. A slightly more deliberate historical reading finds the military image of the salient — a small force of armed men breaking through an enemy’s battle line. Such an exercise may bring victory from stalemate or, often as not, become a suicide mission for the fool-hardy warriors who break rank.
The lines, consequently, show an oddly equivocal series of responses. Joy, the youngest daughter, to my mind bears an undercurrent of insubstantiality; she is far too easily swayed by the opinions and expectations of others. When she manages some independence — lines 1, 2, and 5 — there is legitimate joy. Otherwise: pretension, forced happiness, the saccharine smile of the flatterer.
The greatest mountains may be reflected in a shallow pool.