Poem: Changes 38/Opposition

1
The flame burns upward
The lake seeps downward
The earth shimmies and quakes

2
When people live in opposition
They cannot carry out
Great undertakings in common

Opposition obstructs
But when it represents polarity
Within a gestalt

It has important functions
Like a catalyst
Or a fuse

Like heaven and earth
Spirit and nature
Man and woman

Light and dark
In and out
Or you and me

3
If you lose your horse
Do not run after it
It will come back of its own accord

The horse goes farther away
When you run after it
So too when someone who belongs with us

Is estranged because of misunderstanding
They will return of their own accord
If we let matters run their course

So too with the evil ones among us
You cannot shake off the evil by force
You must endure

And the evil will collapse

Like a house of cards

Into its own darkness

4
The wagon is dragged back
The oxen halted
And a man's hair and nose are cut off

You can easily overcome
A bad beginning
But a good end lasts forever

5
If you find yourself among people
From whom you are separated

By inner opposition

You become isolated
But meeting someone
Who at the core of their being

Is your kin overcomes isolation
And when the companion is revealed

You face the darkness together.

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