Hexagram 21Biting Through
Upper : Fire (Li) - ☲Lower : Thunder (Zhen) - ☳
"Biting through is successful. It is advantageous to let justice be administered."
The image depicts an open mouth with an obstacle (a hard Yang line) caught between the teeth. For the mouth to close and the nourishment to be swallowed, one must bite vigorously through the obstacle. This is the hexagram of justice, necessary punishment, and the destruction of blockages. In the face of injustice, deceit, or a situation immobilized by bad faith, gentleness is no longer sufficient: a decisive, clear (Fire) and energetic (Thunder) action is required.
"Thunder and lightning: the image of biting through. Thus the ancient kings strengthened the laws with clearly defined punishments."
The clarity of lightning reveals the crime, the rumble of thunder executes the sentence. Biting through is not blind vengeance, but an energetic restoration of the natural order.
You are confronted with strong psychological resistance (a complex, a neurosis, a denial) that prevents your vital energy from flowing. Jung would say it is time to confront this Shadow with ferocity. Do not procrastinate. You must "chew" this difficult problem, destroy it through a conscious and irrevocable decision. It is painful in the moment, but it is the only way to digest the obstacle and assimilate its energy.
This is the Quantum Tunneling Effect. A particle faces a classical potential barrier that it does not possess the energy to overcome. Yet, through a sudden quantum fluctuation, it "bites through" the barrier and appears instantaneously on the other side. In the face of an apparently insurmountable wall, a highly focused burst of energy can break the laws of classical physics.