Tonight’s reading is I, “The Corners of the Mouth (Providing Nourishment), changing to Chia Jên, “The Family (The Clan)”.

“Providing nourishment” refers to giving the proper sustenance to the proper things. Wilhelm quotes Mencius as saying:

The body has superior and inferior, important and unimportant parts. We must not injure important parts for the sake of the unimportant, nor must we injure the superior parts for the sake of the inferior. He who cultivates the inferior parts of his nature is an inferior man. He who cultivates the superior parts of his nature is a superior man.

There is a position that can be argued that if one takes care of the superior parts, they will take care of the inferior parts in their turn, but if we sustain directly the inferior parts then all will suffer.

The image of this first hexgram includes: “Thus the superior man is careful of his words and temperate in eating and drinking”, to which Wilhelm comments:

For tranquility keeps the words that come out of the mouth from exceeding proper measure, and keeps the food that goes into the mouth from exceeding its proper measure. Thus character is cultivated.

This views the superior man in a type of symbiosis — he nourishes himself through food and drink, but he also “nourishes” the external world through his speech and action. He must moderate his food and drink to both avoid damaging his body through abuse, and to avoid overusing the resources of his environment. Similarly, he must moderate his speech and action both to cultivate that environment, and to prevent that environment from turning against him; his interests go hand in hand with its interests, since it must support him, and he must therefore cultivate it. Providing the right kind of nourishment at the right time keeps both himself and his environment healthy.

The six in the third place entails “turning away from the nourishment … Do not act thus for ten years. Nothing serves to further.” This “turning away” refers to refraining from nourishment once one has been nourished. Continuing to consume will not “serve to further”, since the marginal benefit will be close to, or at, zero. To do so would be wasteful and counterproductive; “eat when you are hungry, and drink when you are thirsty.”

The six in the fifth place reads “Turning away from the path. To remain persevering brings good fortune. One should not cross the great water.” The path is “turned away from” because the man cannot provide the nourishment that is needed, and knows it. Therefore he must “remain persevering” until his acquires that ability, and he should “cross the great water” until this is accomplished. This is an aphorism of steadfast prudence.

Taken together, this moving hexagram stresses the need to carefully provide the proper nourishment to the proper objects, to avoid any overindulgence, and to refrain from action until he has acquired the ability to do so. It stresses the need to develop the right knowledge and skills before a significant plan is undertaken. It is a model of cautious optimism.

Chia Jen, “The Family”, refers, in the ancient Chinese way, to family members (and, by proxy, everything else) being in their “proper places”. Wilhelm suggests:

when the family is in order, all the social relationships of mankind will be in order … it is the native soil on which performance of moral duty is made easy through natural affection, so that within a small circle a basis of moral practice is created, and this is later widened to include human relationships in general.

The image continues this with “thus the superior man has substance in his words and duration in his way of life.” This “substance” embodies itself in “firm and consistent conduct” which serves both as a consistent example for others to follow, and evidence of the integrity and authority of the man himself.

This “basis of moral practice” in this context arises directly from the careful and consistent development that the moving I hexagram suggested. With regards to “nourishing the environment”, it is this consistent example that must be cultivated before the “great water” can be crossed, before the son can take over from the father as head of the family. Indeed, this “moral practice” within the family is the basis upon which the members’ “moral sense” are indeed cultivated and nourished.

Naturally, from a Thelemic perspective, we have to toss any ideas of “moral sense” out of the window right at the beginning. Yet, we are still left with the core concept of practice in an insulated environment on one’s own terms cultivating the ability to deal with reality directly on its terms. In a physical training routine, for instance, care must be taken to train optimally, but to avoid overstrain (with echoes of the six in the third place) which can end up being detrimental and counterproductive. The aspirant cannot hope to face reality with much influence until he develops a degree of consistency in his operation, or he will be forever prey to the “strife of contending forces” as Liber Libræ puts it. Further, as described in the essay The Method of Love, he must be careful to avoid overstrain in any particular direction, but to expand his self equally in all directions. By practising, by forcing the components of his self to maintain their “proper places”, his capabilities develop, and his powers grows, being freed from restriction. He will have “substance in his words”, i.e. his actions will flow from his true self, instead of the phantasms of his mind.