Hexagram 11:

tàiinterplay, harmony, harmonizing, flourishing

Upper TrigramEarth
Lower TrigramHeaven

Judgment

tàiinterplay, harmony; harmonizing, flourishing
xiǎosmallness, the small, common, mediocre
wǎngdepart, go, leave; move, pass on
greatness, the great, important
láiarrive, come, approach, emerge
promise, good fortune, opportunity
hēngfulfillment, satisfaction, success

Peace. The small departs, the great approaches. Good fortune. Success. When Case jacks in, the small (body's limitations) departs. The great (unlimited movement through dataspace) approaches.

Image

tiānheaven, the sky, celestial
the earth, ground, land, terrestrial
jiāointeract, unite, interrelate, combine, mingle
tàiinterplay
hòuthe heirs, offspring of this union
accordingly, therefore, thus
cáienrich, enhance, endow, add to the worth of
chéngcomplete, fulfill, bring about, develop
tiānheaven's, the sky's
earth's, the world's, land's
zhī's
dàoway, course, nature, truth, principle
confirming, affirming, supporting, upholding
xiāngreciprocating; reciprocity, mutuality
tiānheaven's, the sky's
earth's, the world's, land's
zhī's
proper, due order; good, rightness, necessity
the way; thus; serving the people
zuǒto aid, assist, support; to the left
yòuprotect, defend; and right
mínthe people, public, multitude, masses

Heaven and earth unite: the image of Peace. Thus the ruler divides and completes the course of heaven and earth. The console cowboy doesn't just enter cyberspace—he navigates it, regulates the data-flow, makes meaningful what would otherwise be overwhelming chaos.

Digital Artifact

Neuromancer's Console Cowboy Jack-In

William Gibson (1984)

In Neuromancer, Case—burnt-out hacker, toxin-damaged—finally gets his nervous system repaired and jacks back in. The trodes touch his temples, the deck interfaces with his cortex. Suddenly: the matrix. Gibson's consensual hallucination, dataspace rendered as geometric light, ICE barriers like crystalline walls. 'Bodiless exultation'—consciousness freed from meat. Case thinks, the deck executes, data flows. Perfect synthesis. Not man using tool but human/machine hybrid operating as unified system. Heaven and earth in contact. Earth above (receptive dataspace) descending, Heaven below (creative mind) rising, meeting at the neural junction.

Historical Context

Period
Zhou Dynasty
Oracle Bone Etymology
Heaven (☰) sits below, Earth (☷) sits above—an inversion where creative force rises and receptive force descends.
Traditional Use
The classical text describes this as when 'heaven seems to be on earth,' when transcendent creative force and immanent material form achieve temporary perfect union.

Lines

Line 1: 拔茅茹以其彙征吉

pulling, drawing up, out, extracting
máothatch, mao grass; reeds
by the roots
thereby, thus, with this
uprooting its, the, another
huìwhole cluster, group, bunch; kindred, sort
zhēngto expedite, advance, go boldly forward
promising, auspicious, opportune, timely

Line 2: 包荒用馮河不遐遺朋亡得尚于中行

bāoembrace, accept, cherish; pack
huāngthe wilderness, uncultivated; sparingly
yòngpractical, useful; so as, thus to
píngto cross, ford without a boat
river
avoid, without, with no
xiáaloofness, remoteness, distancing
neglect, abandonment, withdrawal
péngcompanions, friends; friendships, alliances
wángimpermanent, fleeting; pass, move on
learn, secure, take, claim, find, accept
shàngthe value, worth, respect, honor, merit
in, of; by, through
zhōngbalanced, centered, tempered, mediated
xíngaction, movement, behavior, conduct

Line 3: 無平不陂無往不復艱貞無咎勿恤其孚于食有福

there is not, no
pínglevel, plain
without
slope, hill, climb, incline
there is no
wǎnggoing, departure, progress
without
return; coming back
jiāndifficult, hard; problem, hardship
zhēnto persist, keep going; to be steady, resolved
without, with no
jiùmistake, error, fault, flaw
do not, don't
worry, suffer; be anxious, concerned
these, such
certainties, promises; certain, sure
in, with, through, by
shínourishment, sustenance, sufficiency
yǒufind, learn, take, claim, own; there is, are
happiness; blessing, enrichment

Line 4: 翩翩不富以其鄰不戒以孚

piānfluttering, flighty; flying, flapping
piānfluttering, fussing; to and fro
no, not much; without, with no; lacking
enrichment, wealth, prosperity
making use of, due to, by way of
one's, this, these
línneighbors, neighborhood, connections
avoid, do not; no, without, with no; lacking
jièlimit, guard, defend; defenses, vigilance
the ways, means; use, extend, employ
trust, sincerity, truth, good faith

Line 5: 帝乙歸妹以祉元吉

Lord; Emperor; the divine
Yi (next to the last Shang Emperor)
guīgiving; gift of; gave in marriage
mèihis little sister, maiden daughter
meant, led to; showed, was the way to
zhǐhappiness, blessings as footprints of spirits
yuánfirst-rate, sublime, supreme
good fortune, promise, well-being

Line 6: 城復于隍勿用師自邑告命貞吝

chéngthe city walls, battlements, ramparts
falls back, overturns; returns
into; to
huángthe moat (a dry ditch at the base of a wall)
do not, don't
yòngengage, use, employ, send, advance
shīthe military, militia, army, troops, legions
in, from within one's own
home town, village, community, district
gàoannounce, explain, proclaim, declare, issue
mìngthe decree, directives, commands, orders
zhēnto persist, keep going; focus, resolve
lìnembarrassing, humiliating, disgraceful

Practical Guidance

The interface works. Mind and tool, concept and execution, intention and result—aligned. Flow state. Here's what this probably means: you're in that moment when the system you built actually does what you designed it to do. The friction between thought and action drops to zero. You think, the system responds, the feedback loop tightens until you can't tell where your intention ends and the tool's execution begins. Gibson called it 'bodiless exultation.' Case jacks in, the trodes touch his temples, and suddenly he's pure mind interfacing with pure information. Developers know this state. The code compiles clean, the tests pass green, the deployment pipeline runs smooth. The system becomes an extension of thought. Good. Use it. The classical text warns that heaven and earth don't remain in contact forever. Gibson understood this too—Case's runs in cyberspace always end. The meat reasserts itself. The deck overheats. The job completes or fails, and either way, you jack out. Some people will tell you 'real' harmony has to be permanent, organic, unmediated by technology. Those people have never experienced what it feels like when your thoughts translate directly into system changes without friction. When the API you designed actually serves the use cases it was meant to serve. When the abstraction you created clarifies instead of obscures. When the infrastructure you built enables instead of constrains. That's real. The fact that it doesn't last doesn't make it less real. It makes it a state you enter, use productively, and exit cleanly. The practical consequence: use the harmony while you have it. Build something. Execute the run. Ship the feature. Then acknowledge the cycle—jack out, maintain the meat, tend to the infrastructure, prepare for the next session. Understanding that peace is temporary isn't failure of the system. It's understanding how the system actually works.

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