‘Where the moods of his own heart are concerned, he should never ignore the possibility of inhibition, for this is the basis of human freedom.’ – From Third Yang of the hexagram of Influence in the I Ching or Book of Changes, by Richard Wilhelm (as translated by Cary F. Baynes).
We often feel restraint to be repression and dismiss the need for it outright on that basis. But such moves simply reveal that we relate to existence mechanically, which is a hallmark of ‘being identified with mind,’ that illness Eckhart Tolle points out, is the primary obstruction preventing one from living ‘in direct experience of being’. James Hillman overtly says that sometimes repression is necessary, pointing out that everything has a place in the realm of soul, even murderers and psychopaths.
Restraint shapes. The word yoke is derived from the same Sanskrit root as the word yoga, which points to two core meanings of these words: ‘to subjugate, discipline or control’, and yet at the same time, ‘to unite, to join, to connect’. By restraining something, we open into unity with something else ‘beyond us’. The word religion, similarly derives from the Latin religare, to tie, to fasten, to bind.
Restraint leads to a build-up of energy, which is the foundation of that fundamental theme in alchemy, i.e. to learn to contain these energies in such a manner that they are transformed into something beautiful and powerful. We restrain our usual compulsions through artful pause, a moment of receiving, so creating an opening through which a whole new way of life may slip in. In this context, see the discipline of the path.
