#24 复 Return – Recovery

24 复 Return – Recovery

This hexagram has the Earth trigram on top of the Thunder trigram.  The word means return or recover or restore or renewal. It is about cycles – return to start again. It is the u-turn point. It is the opposite of the 23剝 Stripping (decay).  In 23剝 we have the 5 yin lines pushing away the top yang line. In ‘24 复 Return,’ we have the appearance of a yang line at the bottom and 5 yin lines at the top showing the start of the yang coming in to push out the yin.

Description:

1. 亨。 Smooth flowing for success.
2. 出入无疾 Leaving and coming without sickness.
3. 朋来无咎 Friends come without bringing any blame
4. 反复其道 Returning to the righteous ways (of life)
5. 七日来复 It returns on the 7th day
6. 利有攸往 It is good for going and doing new projects.

Textual Commentary:

彖曰：复亨；刚反，动而以顺行，是以出入无疾，朋来无咎。 反复其道，七日来复，天 行也。利有攸往，刚长也。复其见天地之心乎？

Returning brings forth smooth flow leading to success. The strong (yang) has returned. It pushes the blockage away and brings forth smooth flow. That is why going to and fro has no sickness, and friends come without complaints. Return to the right way and taking seven days is the way of Heaven. Good to start moving because of the arrival of a strong force. The unending cycle of life is the heart of Heaven and Earth. Do you see it?

Pictorial Commentary:

象曰：雷在地中，复；先王以至日闭关，商旅不行，后不省方

Thunder under the Earth gives rise to Return. The ancient kings at the right time (e.g. arrival of winter) closes the gates. Business and travel stop. They also stop visiting the land. (In short, they observe the ways of heaven and earth).

Moral Teaching:

1. The heaven teaches us that life goes in cycles. There is time for growth and time for rest. There is a time to return and a time to leave.
2. Following the right time to do the right thing will bring forth success and keep us in good health. We now know we have a biological clock in our body and it is good for us to follow it for good health, energy, and long life.
3. It also applies to our relationship with friends. There are different stages of friendships and different ways of handling them. Choose your friends wisely too, because they may help you to grow rightly or lead you astray.
4. The foundational principle is the right way of heaven – truth, integrity, righteousness, and justice.
5. 7 days – a week is a universal time unit. Many life cycles are measured in weeks. A human pregnancy takes about 40 weeks. The gestation period for a cat and dog is 9 weeks, for a pig is 16 weeks, for a chicken is 3 weeks. It takes some time, a week or more, to learn our lesson.
6. When we are having difficulty in our progress, we should perhaps do a reflection and check how far have we deviated from the original vision and moral values. It may be time for us to get back and be renewed.

Stage 1 Being Nine: Did not depart too far from the original (or return after a short detour), there are no regrets, it is a great blessing. 初九：不复远，无只 悔，元吉。

The pictorial commentary explains that to return after a short trip is to build up one’s moral character and strength. 象曰：不远之复，以修身也。

It is unavoidable that we sometimes depart from the right paths. But we must detect it quickly and go back to the right path. In which case, we shall not suffer much loss. Our friends can help us. They can detect our deviations faster than we can. It is important to have good friends to hold us accountable.

Stage 2 Second Six: Rest and stay in the return point (to learn). It is good fortune.  六二：休复，吉。

The pictorial commentary says that good fortune comes from being kind and caring for those who are below. 象曰：休复之吉，以下仁也。

Other interpretations include humbling oneself to follow the way of kindness and love, learning them from friends, and even passing the job to someone that is kind. The key message is to return to humility and learn from others the right way – kindness and care are stressed here in the pictorial commentary.  This resting period to learn, to renew, and to be charged uprightly is important. It stops us from falling into the next stage.

Stage 3 Third Six: Return frequently. It is dangerous but no harm. 六三：频复，厉无咎。

The pictorial commentary says that returning often is a sign of danger. Following the right path has no harm. 象曰：频复之厉，义无咎也。

Frequent returns show that we are still immature. We deviate often and have to come back often. It is dangerous because we are unstable. We may likely go off course without ever returning! Nevertheless, returning to the right path is always good.

Stage 4 Fourth Six: Return by oneself in midway.  六四：中行独复。

The pictorial commentary says that return alone to follow the right path. 象曰：中行独复，以从道也。

Here we have matured to be able to make independent judgments and return to the right way. We are not just following others blindly on their wrong path. We are not afraid of their accusations and pressure. We break away from the wrong party of friends and return alone. Friends appeared in the textual commentary of this hexagram and are clearly implied here. It highlights the influence of friends.

Stage 5 Return with sincerity and love. There is no regret. 六五：敦复，无悔。

The pictorial commentary says the return is with sincerity and is due to the self-examination of the heart.     象曰：敦复无悔，中以自考也。

This is a high standard of reflection and conviction of the heart. The standard used to measure the rightness is the standard of love. It is not about committing sins and wrongdoings. There is a higher demand for doing the right things in love. Knowing what is right and yet not doing it is still considered wrong. It is an examination of the internal affairs of heart and motivations. If we have hatred and bitterness in our hearts against someone, we are considered, in this high standard, to be committing a crime of murder or harm. This is a true repentance of the heart.  This is not a weakness but stronger than past stages. The going forward from a true change in the heart with a higher standard will be fast and strong.

Stage 6 Top Six: Lost the way and return not. It is a disaster. If applied to the movement of forces, it will eventually bring a great defeat to the king. Danger. For ten years it will not be able to fight again. 上六：迷复，凶，有灾眚。用行师，终有大败，以其国君，凶；至于十年，不克征。

The pictorial commentary explains that missing the return point is due to breaking the laws of righteous government and wisdom. 象 曰：迷复之凶，反君道也。

A person who loses the way and knows not that he is lost will only end his life in disaster.  He who refuses the correction from his friends and remains on the wrong path will also end in disaster. The disaster will wake up the lost ones that he is indeed lost! But we don’t have to learn the right way by the hard way of knocking our heads against walls. There are fundamental principles of life that we can follow and heed the good advice of true friends.

Summary:

Life goes in cycles. There is time to go and time to return. It is not always going forward. At times, we need to take a break to reflect. We may need to return to the right path of truth, integrity, love, and justice. It takes time for us to learn properly. Be wise in choosing the right friends who can help us grow and hold us accountable.

Additional wisdom from the stage lines:

1. Get back on the right track fast.
2. Return to learn the right way of love and don’t rush.
3. Watch out if we return frequently. Go back to stage 2.
4. Choose the right friends. If not, at least break off alone to return to the right way.
5. Return with true repentance of the heart.
6. Don’t be lost too far to end in disaster. Return before the point of no return.

Application – 1 Retreat is Wise and Not Shameful

Most people think of retreat or withdrawal as a shameful thing and continue to pour in resources to save a lost cause or lost business. According to I-Ching, at the right situation and time, 33-Retreat is the wisest thing to do. In the famous Chinese’s 36 Tactics, Retreat or Walk-away is ranked as the highest! It is only shameful and bad if we run away in fear and panic. Properly planned and executed, Retreat is the right way to preserve strength for the big push when the opportunity opens up again in the future. Remember that all situations are temporary even though at that time they may look permanent to us. Your time will come. In the meantime, you may have to retreat to recuperate, to get ready for the future. Just accept and live at peace with yourself and others.

Application – 2 Resign Beautifully

It is easy to call it quit in a job. Just submit our resignation, especially in a moment of intense anger. However, such impulsive resignation is not good. It creates animosity between the employer and us and gives us a bad reputation. It will affect our future job prospects. What is a better way to quit? Can we not resign beautifully? This Hexagram #33 Retreat tells us how.

The objective of a retreat, or resignation as an example, is to preserve our resources intact under a challenging situation that our continued involvement will just use up all our resources and still not be able to achieve our objective. A wise saying of the Venture of Capitalists is “Don’t throw good money away in a losing project.”.

Once our mind is clear about the loss course and that we need to get out, we should plan for it and do the following:

1. Respond in time and not at the last moment.

• We need to plan well in advance rather than doing it at the last moment impulsively.
• We need to keep our bosses informed of our pending resignation.
• We need to work out how we hand over our duties. We may need some extra time to complete some outstanding tasks and to phase in our replacements.
• We may need to sound out to our bosses the reasons and the help we need for us to continue in our present job.
• We may need to give good reasons as to why we are resigning. We need to be truthful though earthly wisdom suggests that we should not. There are many reasons:
• The push factors – such as work pressures, inability to cope with work, problems with fellow colleagues.
• The pull factors – someone offering better jobs, our desire to change careers, our desire to get additional education for progress, our wanting to start our own business, etc.
• Sharing with our bosses the real reasons allows them to actions to either retain us or send us out with their blessings. The relationships are kept intact. We may meet them again in other situations.

2. Fear not. Be determined and don’t give up because of the challenges.

• Quitting to most people could be taken as a shameful thing.
• If we know and are convinced about the reasons we are quitting, then there is no shame. Quitting is not wrong per se unless we have bad intentions like taking revenge against our bosses or colleagues.
• It is important to plan well as in Stage 1 above and quit with character, reputation, health, and relationship intact.

3. Keep the good staff.

• If you are running a company and there needs to be a cost-cutting and restructuring type of retreat, then never do a pro-rata kind of uniform cutting in the name of fairness or equal pains. Uniform cost cutting is not fair for the staff that contribute and actually overpay the underperformers. Guess what will happen? The talented contributing staff left and the underperforming staff stayed! So we need to take a closer look. We need to understand and segregate the performers and non-performers and take the appropriate actions.

4. Accept the Retreat. Be at peace with yourself and others.

• If you are transparent and honest about the reasons you are retaining or cutting staff and projects, even those that are cut will understand and sympathize with you. This is the story told by Anne M. Mulcahy of Xerox when she transformed the company to save it from bankruptcy. (“If you schmooze and spin your communications, it comes back to bite you in your ability to establish credibility with people” ( Fortune, June 9, 2003)
• Read more: Anne M. Mulcahy 1952— Biography – Leading by listening, The Accidental CEO.

5. Celebrates successful Retreat. Retreat intact.
When you have retreated or resigned successfully with character, reputation, health, and relationship intact, then celebrate it. Have a good farewell party with your colleagues. Confidently do the things that you have planned for in Stage 1. Hopefully, you have secured a new job before you resigned or got an entrance to your graduate school or some business plan for starting your new business.

6. Freed and able to see clearly and move quickly.
Now that we are completely out having obtained a good closure, we have peace and can see clearly our future. We prepare and watch for the coming opportunity as Steve Jobs said, “I wait for the next opportunity” (after having lost the desktop war to Microsoft). Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 and made it a great success. To know how to wait for the next opportunity, please see 05 需 Needs – Wait for the Right Time

Summary:

Life goes in cycles. There is time to go and time to return. It is not always going forward. 
At times, we need to take a break to reflect. We may need to return to the right path of truth, integrity, love, and justice. It takes time for us to learn properly. Be wise in choosing the right friends who can help us grow and hold us accountable.

The stage lines teach us additional wisdom:

1. Get back on the right track fast.
2. Return to learn the right way of love and don't rush.
3. Watch out if we return frequently. Go back to stage 2.
4. Choose the right friends. If not, at least break off alone to return to the right way.
5. Return with true repentance of the heart.
6. Don’t be lost too far to end in disaster. Return before the point of no return.

Lim Liat (c) 19/2/2010