3rd Line

I've been listening to some Ra lectures and taking notes.  (I only have one 3rd line in my profile, Gate 50.3, The Cauldron or The Guardian, in the Splenic center.)  Listening to Ra, I have a newer understanding of the adaptability of the 3rd line.

The 3rd line gives the illusion of being the completion of the first 2 lines; the same way the 6th lines does.  The 3rd line doesn't know there's something on the other side (lower trigram), the way the upper three lines do.  BUT, it's designed to adapt if something shows up--the Bonds Made and Broken theme of the 3rd line.  Another keynote of the 3rd line, Allegiance/Rejection, also shows how adaptable this line can be (the baby version of the 6th line). 

It's a personal line, rather than transpersonal, but it has the adaptability to deal with so much.  There's an instability here that's fascinating.

'Trial and Error

The 3rd line is the culmination of the lower trigram. It's a very receptive line that is here to adapt. This is the line of trial and error. People with the 3rd line learn by learning what doesn't work. They may have to try something 50 times – making 49 mistakes along the way - before they find what works. If you want to know what doesn't work, just ask a third line who's figured something out! This is where real discovery takes place.

The 3rd line can have a tremendous perseverance. It can also happen that 3rd line people become deeply pessimistic. It's as though when the world changes and they have to adapt to something new they say "Oh no, here we go again – nothing I try is going to work." It's important they understand that this is their gift of adaptation and they simply need to persevere. That doesn't mean, by the way, to simply keep trying the same thing that doesn't work. The 3rd line is not transpersonal. It knows that others are out there but it only knows that because in the course of its adaptive trial and error process it is always bumping into them.'