XLI. From Heaven and Earth to a Single Thought: The Complete Circuit of This Chapter

We can now string the whole chapter together. Heaven above, Earth below -- Qian and Kun thereby take their places; above and below unfold, and the low and the high, the noble and the humble, each find their place; between Heaven and Earth there is movement and there is stillness, and the firm and the yielding can be distinguished; different things gather and divide, and a person's advance and withdrawal, taking and forsaking, cause fortune and misfortune to arise; Heaven manifests image, Earth forms shape, and change is thereby made visible. This moves from the great whole to the myriad things, from order to judgment.

Then the firm and the yielding rub against one another, and the eight trigrams stir one another into motion, showing that difference is not sealed off but transforms and generates through interaction; thunder and lightning drum, wind and rain moisten, the firm and the yielding both applied at once; the sun and moon revolve, cold and heat come and go, and change has its constancy; Qian forms the male, Kun forms the female, and the transformation of Heaven and Earth enters the generations of life. This moves from static position into dynamic generation.

Then, from Qian's knowing of the great beginning and Kun's bringing of things to completion, cosmic transformation and generation turn into human knowing and doing; Qian's ease and Kun's simplicity let the great Way be known and the work be followed; being easy to know produces closeness, being easy to follow produces merit; closeness lets a relation endure, merit lets an undertaking grow great; endurance forms the virtue of the worthy, greatness forms the achievement of the worthy. This moves from the virtue of Heaven and Earth into the virtue and achievement of a person.

Finally, ease and simplicity attain the principle of all under Heaven, and a person, through virtue and achievement, forms his place within it. The opening speaks of "place" from Heaven being exalted and Earth being lowly; the ending returns again to "forming one's place." The former place is the order shown by Heaven and Earth; the latter place is the actual position a person attains through cultivating virtue and accomplishing achievement. A person is already between Heaven and Earth at birth, and yet only truly forms his place when he has fully carried out his Way. The whole chapter forms a circuit from beginning to end.

This structure also shows that the study of the Yi cannot stop at any single level. To speak only of Heaven and Earth without human affairs becomes remote abstract speculation; to speak only of name and position without change becomes a rigid order; to speak only of change without constant principle becomes mere capricious cleverness; to speak only of virtue without achievement leaves nothing completed; to speak only of achievement without the great beginning may lose righteousness; to speak only of forming one's place without knowing humble dwelling within it leads to arrogant self-exaltation. Within a single chapter, the Way of Heaven, the Way of Earth, and the Way of Man run through one another, and yet each has its own distinct part. Heaven manifests through image, Earth completes through shape, and humankind takes part through knowing and doing; Qian is easy to know, Kun is capable through simplicity, and a person forms virtue and achievement through closeness and merit. To run through is not to erase difference, but to let difference complete itself. Just as the firm and the yielding rub against each other while each pole is preserved, only thus does change occur.