THIRTY-THREE |
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遯 |
WITHDRAWAL
CONCERNS: When corrosive negative energy is gaining strength or an opposing force is greater than ours, a correct response includes the possibility of retreat; having the freedom to withdraw from a situation or a relationship is an expression of wisdom.
- Retreat is an early, voluntary withdrawal, made long before we are forced to flee.
- If you can remain balanced in your center, you will not be overcome by difficult circumstances nor create occasions for regret.
- Withdrawal from worldly involvement is difficult; we need to be decisive when such involvement would be dangerous. Now we should retreat to the safety of our closest relationships.
- We manifest our maturity when we can make a firm, unruffled withdrawal from a pleasant situation that has become compromising.
- A correct retreat arises from inner certainty; it is dignified, friendly and without excuses or vacillation.
- “Inner detachment has become an established fact, and we are at liberty to depart. When one sees the way ahead thus clearly, free of all doubt, a cheerful mood sets in, and one chooses what is right without further thought.” [1]
COMMENT: The I Ching continually teaches the truth that energies and events are guided best at their inception, before they have gained momentum and passed beyond our control. A withdrawal allows us to regroup and to return. People who do not know how to retreat do not know how to advance; they have not yet become aware of subtle cycles of energy.
REFERENCES
- ^ Wilhelm, R., & Baynes, C. F. (1977). The I Ching or Book of Changes: The Richard Wilhelm Translation Rendered Into English. (p. 132) Bollingen Series, Princeton University Press