31 Going Along (Influencing) - The I Ching

This hexagram is the first in the Lower Canon: the Tao of Man. As such it shows us the nature of human relationships, both the strong and the weak. The soft lake rests atop the hard mountain. The ideogram gives us the less pleasant image of an axe and a mouth. “Might makes right”. Together they show us how the Tao moves in mankind.
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Judgment A simple statement that shows the nature of the Tao perfectly. Where a person is onesided, they require their complement: they must balance themselves to be as nature.

1 A sort of microscopic view of the Taoist maxim  that “a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step”. One step begins with willing your toe to move.

2 The calves, unlike the toes, do not articulate, they connect the foot to the knee, but have no way to influence the course of movement.

3 The thighs here exhibit desire, calling to mind Sagittarius, and the Centaur, whose astrological rulership is over the thighs. These bestial half-men are considered beneath men because they lack self control. Their animal half begins at their thighs, but guides their whole being.

4 The unsettled heart is the center of desire, here the movements are continuous, disordered and without  clear direction. This is someone following their whims. Consider a gang of children gallivanting and adventuring according to their momentary desires, or a group of friends who have been drinking.

5 Here, the full body is moved by the back. Consider pushing someone ahead, or the phrases “Put your back into it”, or the reason that “spineless” is an insult. This is not a part that is easily moved, the back is strong.

6 Here is the tongue in the same place as the 27th hexagram, and the same wisdom applies.

James 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

A skilled tongue can get many bodies moving in accordance with what it says. However, talk is cheap, and many people can talk endlessly about what they want to do, and never move their body in line with their words.

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When thinking about this hexagram, the phrase “You are my rock” comes to mind. Many relationships function according to this balance, a strong partner keeping the weaker one safe. This influence is of course mutual, for we are all strong and weak in different places. The lake has its foundation in the mountain, the mountain is relieved by the joy of the lake in perfect symbiosis. This keeps the mountain from being too hard, as the stone is softened by the water of the lake, and it keeps the lake from dissipating by giving it a study basin.

Opposites attract because opposition demands union, and we see it in the animal magnetism that guides nature. In the human realm, it calls to mind one of the loveliest nursery rhymes:

Jack Sprat could eat no fat,
His wife could eat no lean.
And so, betwixt them both,
They licked the platter clean.

This is the ideal romance, where the work of life is balanced through opposite approaches, each relying on the ability of the other to achieve what neither could on their own.

Yet the nature of influencing and mutuality is a two edged sword. The dark side to this dynamic is how the influence of a few leaders can move the masses to their death. How an abusive partner can reduce a person into a shell of themselves. Consider, as well, Folie à deux, a dominant delusional person inducing their psychosis in a partner. The word “Flu” or “Influenza” is literally “Influence”: influence is contagion itself.

Therefore, let us be careful with our hearts and minds, for we are all easy to move when influenced in the right way. We have to have the strength to know when a relationship is equal and mutual, and when we are being moved toward harm.

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