(Copyright © 2005 C. J. Lofting)

Hexagram 27 covers the general sense of an architecture, a skeletal form, in need of 'filling'. The trigrams can be interpreted reading bottom to top as "with enlightenment(the new) comes discernment". The overall focus is on quality control and a warning about a need to be discerning re what one takes in to fill the skeleton. (IN ICPLus the label of 27 is 'hungering')

Through analysis of the method used by the brain to derive categories of meaning we find that recursion of dichotomies appears to be the preferred mode. This method comes with properties that allow for all categories derived to be reflected in the expressions of each category. Thus, in the case of hexagram 27, not only is it particular in its focus, but that particularity comes with universal elements such that it covers an archetypal state as well as a typal, local, state.

This behaviour of hexagrams indicates that the recursion is not 'cutting' a whole as more so exaggerating aspects of that whole. As such, we are dealing with a complex wave form and deriving of parts means to distort that whole to bring out what we label as a 'part', a discrete unit. Thus each part contains the whole, where the rest of the whole is sorted in a bestfit/worstfit ordering 'behind' the particular we are interested in. IOW we bring into the foreground a pattern from the background but never 'cut' that pattern from that background - we more so exaggerate it so it appears to be 'discrete'.

Our consciousness can 'idealise' the pattern, and so try to remove it from its context for analysis, but in doing so we cut off parts of its 'proper' form - the relationships to context (as in, for example, analysis of a fish out of water where 'fishness', the ultimate nature, demands completion by being in water). Thus the idealisation creates a 'universal' but that universal is not 'complete' until fitted into a local context.

ICPlus, with its focus on understanding the universal "I Ching", has discovered a method to extract the expressions of all parts through each, where those parts aid in the expression of a part, as genes are expressed in a human (nature) prior to local context (nurture) fitting that human in.

The discovered method is simple in that we take some property we wish to analyse - in this case the 27-ness of all hexagrams - and use the XOR operator of logic to identify the expression of 27 through a context that is described by a hexagram. That expression is by analogy in that the set of all meanings is finite (64 hexagrams) but we are dealing with a 'vast' universe such that direct 1:1 mappings are rare, more so all descriptions are by analogy/metaphor to the set of hexagrams that make up our representations of reality.

For example, the skeletal form, the clay from which the form was made, of hexagram 01 is derived by XOR-ing 01 with 27. We get:

111111 hex 01
100001 hex 27
---------- XOR
011110 - hex 28

This reads as the skeletal, vague, form of 01 is described by analogy to the (under-exaggerated) qualities of hexagram 28 - IOW "Too much Yang; Excess".

Since we can apply this 'rule' to all hexagrams, so, since hexagrams come in PAIRS, so we can establish links of pairs of hexagrams serving as 'skeletal' forms for other pairs (and these relationships will be reciprocal due to the symmetry of the XOR operator - ie 27 XOR 01 or 01 XOR 27 will give the same result in a bit value but qualitative differences due to the 'direction' of the process. 27 XOR 01 gives us the 27-ness of 01, but 01 XOR 27 gives us the 01-ness of 27. Thus, hex 28 describes the '27-ness' of 01 as it describes the 01-ness of 27, not the 27-ness of 27)

BY focusing on PAIRS so we focus on themes of meaning expressed through pairs of pairs, quartets, and these are summarised below with some limited commentary - the first example being from an email of mine to a list covering the nature of hexagram 19.

07,04 vs 19,41 :

The pair of 07, 04 focus on uniformity as a way of 'averaging out' - be it through an army structure (that is unconditional in its approach) or a social education structure (that is conditional in its approach). The 27-ness of 07 is described by analogy to generic qualities of 41, as the 27-ness of 04 is described by analogy to the general qualities of 19.

The pair of 19, 41, with their YANG base line, EXAGGERATE the 'uniformity' of 07,04 through focusing on uniformity expressed in an ideal form, an exaggerate form. 19 is unconditional about its focus, 41 is conditional. BOTH deal with 'approaching the high' - with analogies given as approaching the 'high' (seeking an audience) or on distilling the 'high' in the form of an ideal, pure, form. The 27-ness of 19 is described by analogy to 04, the 27-ness of 41 by analogy to 07.

The PAIRS of this particular quartet form into a focus on uniformity 'in general', where 07,04 is averaged, 19,41 is exaggerated, idealised.

In the following ordering, the 1:1 relationships of hexagram to its 'mud' are in the form of reflection (opposition) such that we have A,B vs C,D with AD and BC being related as "A describes the skeletal form (27-ness) of D as D does of A" etc. Then comes the pair focus of AB vs CD reflecting the 'balanced' vs 'exaggerated' perspectives of these pairs as they form into a quartet covering a generic topic. What becomes noticable is that the general theme of each octet appears to be determined by the FIRST hexagram in each quartet listed below. We can precede the name with the phrase "issues of ". This focus stems from the dynamic of 27 where the focus of raw-to-refined ensures the continuity of the meanings where the base line acts to set a basic context that is difference.

The full set of pairs of pairs is:

07, 04 vs 19, 41 - uniformity (unconditional, conditional (exaggerated, biased)) Note that these comments apply to (A) the pairs in the quartet (07,04 as a PAIR are unconditional when releted to 19,41 that are conditional) and (B) the elements in each pair (07 is unconditional, 04 is conditional; 19 is unconditional, 41 is conditional. IN 07,41 so 07 is unconditional, 41 conditional; in 04,19 so 04 conditional, 19 unconditional)

29, 59 vs 60, 61 (..and so 29,61 and 59,60 form reciprocal skeleton/complete relationships, and the pair of pairs of (29,59),(60,61) form a quartet covering a general theme of 'flat' vs 'exaggered' expressions. Note that the 29 focus is on unconditional containtment/control issues, 59 is conditional in its approach. 60 focuses on unconditional limitations through introduction of 'standards', 61 on a soft-core, hard exterior focus (empathy etc))

40, 64 vs 54, 38 relaxed structuring

47, 06 vs 58, 10 enclosing

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02, 23 vs 24, 27 devoting

08, 20 vs 03, 42 uniting

16, 35 vs 51, 21 forseeing

45, 12 vs 17, 25 congregating

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15, 52 vs 36, 22 levelling-out

39, 53 vs 63, 37 obstructing (rigidity)

62, 56 vs 55, 30 portraying (loyalities)

31, 33 vs 49, 13 enticing

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46, 18 vs 11, 26 entangling

48, 57 vs 05, 09 foundation-setting

32, 50 vs 34, 14 commiting

28, 44 vs 43, 01 exceeding

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