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Hexagram 59
59 · Huàn 渙

Dissolution

Wind above
·
Water below
Translated from Richard Wilhelm's German (1924)

Introduction

The wind sweeping across the water from above scatters it and dissolves it into foam and mist. This also carries the thought that when vital energy is dammed up in a person (which the lower trigram indicates by its quality, danger), gentleness scatters and dissolves it again.

The Judgment

Dissolution. Success. The king approaches his temple. It is favorable to cross the great water. Persistence is favorable.
In its text this hexagram resembles hexagram 45, Gathering. There it is a matter of gathering what is separated, as water gathers in lakes on the earth. Here it is a matter of scattering and dissolving divisive egoism. The hexagram Dissolution shows, so to speak, the way that leads to gathering. That explains the resemblance between the texts.
Overcoming the divisive egoism of human beings requires religious forces. The shared celebration of the great sacrificial feasts and services of worship, which at the same time gave expression to the cohesion and the social order of family and state, was the means the great rulers used to bring hearts, stirred by sacred music and ceremonial splendor into a common surge of feeling, to an awareness of the common origin of all beings, and in this way the separation was overcome and the rigidity dissolved. Another means is working together on great common undertakings, which set a great goal before the will and, in the pursuit of this goal, dissolve everything that divides, just as all those aboard a ship crossing a great river must unite in the common work.
But only someone who is themselves free of all egoistic ulterior motives, and who abides in justice and constancy, is capable of dissolving the hardness of egoism in this way.

The Image

The wind sweeps across the water: the image of dissolution. So the ancient kings offered sacrifice to the Lord and raised temples.
In autumn and winter water begins to grow rigid and freeze into ice. When the mild breezes of spring come, the rigidity loosens, and what was scattered in floes of ice unites again. It is the same with the mind of the people. Hardness and selfishness make the heart grow rigid, and in this rigidity it separates itself from everything else. Egoism and greed isolate people. Therefore a devout emotion must take hold of the human heart. It must be loosened in holy tremors of eternity, which shake it with an intimation of the common creator of all beings and unite it through the power of communal feeling in the sacred celebration of the worship of the divine.

The Lines

First line, six
They bring help with the power of a horse. Good fortune.
The point here is that the first beginnings of separation are overcome before the separation is complete; that the clouds are scattered before storm and rain have set in. In such times, when moods secretly begin to diverge and mutual misunderstandings follow, one must act quickly and vigorously to dissolve these misunderstandings and the mutual distrust.
Second line, nine
In the dissolution they hurry to what supports them. Regret vanishes.
When a person discovers in themselves the beginnings of estrangement from others, of misanthropy and ill humor, the task is to scatter these blockages. They must set out inwardly and hurry to what supports them. Such support for a person never lies in hatred; it always lies in judging people moderately and justly, and with goodwill. When they regain this free view of humanity, and all dark, bilious resentment is scattered, every cause for regret vanishes.
Third line, six
They dissolve their self. No regret.
Under certain circumstances the work can become so hard that one can no longer think of oneself. One must put one's own person entirely aside and scatter everything that the self would like to gather around itself to set itself apart. Only with a great renunciation as the foundation does one gain the strength for great achievements. One can reach this standpoint by having one's goal outside oneself, in a great cause.
Fourth line, six
They detach themselves from their group. Exalted good fortune. Through dissolution comes accumulation. This is something ordinary people do not think of.
When one is working on a task that concerns the greater whole, one must set all private friendships aside. Only by standing above the factions does one achieve anything decisive. Whoever dares this renunciation of what is near will win those who are far. But to be able to understand this standpoint, one needs a broad overview of the connections of life, such as only uncommon people attain.
Fifth line, nine
Like sweat, their loud calls bring dissolution. Dissolution. A king remains, without fault.
In times of general dissolution and separation, a great idea is the point around which recovery is organized. Just as an illness comes to its crisis through a dissolving sweat, so in times of general stagnation a great, compelling idea is a true deliverance. People have something around which they can gather, a ruler who can scatter the misunderstandings.
Top line, nine
They dissolve their blood. Going away, keeping one's distance, going out: this is without fault.
Dissolving the blood means dissolving what could bring blood and wounds, avoiding danger. But the thought expressed here is not that one merely sidesteps difficulties for oneself, but that one rescues one's own people, helping them to go away before the danger is there, to keep their distance from a danger already present, and to find the way out of a danger that has already seized them. In this way one does what is right.
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