Gate 57 — The Gentle — The extraordinary power of clarity

Full breakdown

We're moving into the individual process now, and we're approaching what the Rave I Ching describes as exceptional gates. The gloss over the lines of hexagram 57 reads: the extraordinary power of clarity. Gate 57, like every other gate belonging to the integration process, is by its very nature significantly more complex than the other gates on the wheel. Gate 57 in the integration channels represents primary, original awareness — which means gate 57 combined with gate 34 is the conscious establishment of the human archetype. Joined with gate 10, gate 57 establishes the nature of Perfected Form, which embodies the design of our survival — that is, this is the awareness that guarantees survival. When gate 57 joins with gate 20, it becomes penetrating, intuitive awareness in the present moment.

Everything connected to the individual process is acoustic. When we studied gate 28, we looked at the fear of death and the deep need to fight, or not, for life to have meaning. When we turn to hexagram 57, we see the fear of tomorrow. Out of the fear of the future, in the acoustic field, grows an awareness that tells us a great deal about how to stay alive. That's the essence of gate 57 — it holds the awareness that lets you stay alive. This is the gate of Intuitive Clarity, and its potential is a conscious struggle for clarity, or not. The struggle that runs through channel 28/38 continues here as well. But for this gate, real clarity can only exist in the present moment — and besides everything else, this is only half a channel. There's no gate 20 at the other end. Here we find possibilities of awareness like individuation, self-awareness, existential hearing, and what the right ear hears. The right ear hears what's happening in the present moment. Taken as a whole, the entire process we'll be looking at in gate 57 describes how to stay alive as a human being — what awareness is needed for that. It's gate 57 that leads to that door.

We've shifted into the individual circuit, so don't forget that the real keys to individual survival lie in the third and fourth lines, since these lines carry the individual theme. The first two lines deal with survival in a tribal sense.