Constancy occupies a structurally pivotal position across the depth-psychology corpus, appearing not as a simple synonym for stubbornness or inertia, but as a dynamic moral and cosmological principle whose efficacy depends entirely upon the correctness of its orientation. The most sustained and philosophically rigorous treatments emerge from the Taoist and Neo-Confucian I Ching commentarial traditions, where constancy (héng) is understood as the single-minded, ever-deepening application of will along the right path — the qualification of rightness being indispensable. Liu I-ming and Wang Bi together establish that constancy without rectitude is not merely neutral but actively harmful, producing a practitioner who perseveres competently toward ruin. Wang Bi’s readings of the hexagrams embed constancy within the relational logic of Heaven and Earth: the Dao of sun, moon, and the myriad things subsists precisely because they sustain constancy; it is the ontological ground of reliable function. Merleau-Ponty introduces a phenomenological counterpoint in his analysis of perceptual constancy — not a metaphysical virtue but an existential, pre-logical achievement by which the embodied subject maintains a coherent world across shifting conditions. Bowlby’s invocation of ‘libidinal object constancy’ marks a psychoanalytic flank of the debate, treating the term with critical skepticism. These divergent usages share a common tension: constancy as self-identical persistence versus constancy as the dynamic stabilization of identity through oriented change.
illumination is not possible without a constant mind. Constancy means single-mindedly applying the will, the longer the stronger, not becoming lazy and slacking off.
This passage establishes the foundational Taoist doctrine that constancy is the prerequisite of illumination, but insists its value is wholly contingent on being directed toward the correct path rather than an aberrated one.
, The Taoist I Ching, 1986thesis
Thanks to constancy, the Dao of Heaven and Earth reveals itself. Thanks to constancy, the Dao of the sun and the moon makes them bright. All the activity that takes place in the world, thanks to constancy, is the expression of the One.
Wang Bi elevates constancy to a cosmological principle, arguing that the ordered functioning of Heaven, Earth, and the celestial bodies is itself the expression of constancy sustaining the One.
, The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi, 1994thesis
constant in timing rather than by minding, constant in the Path rather than in things, constancy being without form or trace, this is constancy in which regret disappears.
Liu I-ming distinguishes authentic constancy — oriented to the Path and timeless in quality — from false constancy fixed upon external things, identifying the former as the state in which regret is dissolved.
, The Taoist I Ching, 1986thesis
The constancy of forms and sizes in perception is therefore not an intellectual function, but an existential one, which means that it has to be related to the pre-logical act by which the subject takes up his place in the world.
Merleau-Ponty reframes perceptual constancy as an existential rather than cognitive achievement, locating it in the embodied subject’s pre-reflective orientation within a shared world.
, Phenomenology of Perception, 1962thesis
exercising constancy in the face of difficulties … Constancy here involves danger, but there will be no blame.
Wang Bi demonstrates that constancy is not an unconditional good but must be exercised from the correct positional alignment, and even then may entail danger without incurring blame.
, The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi, 1994supporting
Great Strength is such that it is fitting to practice constancy means that the great behave with rectitude. In such rectitude and greatness the innate tendencies of Heaven and Earth can be seen.
Constancy here is paired with rectitude as the condition under which Great Strength reveals the innate tendencies of Heaven and Earth rather than becoming mere force.
, The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi, 1994supporting
This one does not persevere in maintaining his virtue, so he might have to bear the shame of it, for constancy would be debased.
Failure to maintain constancy in virtue is explicitly identified as producing shame and the debasement of constancy itself as a principle.
, The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi, 1994supporting
it is appropriate for Fifth Yin to ‘abide in constancy.’ … it is able to maintain its constancy in following Top Yang and so obtain good fortune here at a time of Nourishment.
Constancy is shown to be relationally structured: Fifth Yin secures good fortune not through autonomous persistence but by maintaining constancy in its proper relationship of following Top Yang.
, The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi, 1994supporting
Constancy results in good fortune, for this one has climbed in stages … if he were to practice unceasing constancy. … To go on forever without stopping is the path to exhaustion.
Wang Bi introduces a crucial limit on constancy: unceasing constancy that ignores natural stopping points leads to exhaustion rather than good fortune, qualifying the principle with temporal wisdom.
, The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi, 1994supporting
One who effaces his own prominent qualities here will be able to practice constancy.
The capacity for constancy is tied to the effacement of self-assertion: only by subordinating personal prominence can one maintain the steady orientation that constancy requires.
, The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi, 1994supporting
plumb and divine for fundamentality, perseverance, and constancy, for only with them will there be no blame … if they do so without fundamentality, perseverance, and constancy, it will lead to the dao of misfortune and evil.
Constancy is here grouped with fundamentality and perseverance as the triadic condition for blameless communal closeness, its absence being sufficient to produce misfortune.
, The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi, 1994supporting
The serious shortcomings of the much invoked concept of ‘libidinal object constancy’ are discussed shortly.
Bowlby signals critical dissatisfaction with psychoanalytic object constancy as a developmental concept, suggesting its explanatory value has been overstated relative to more empirically grounded models of representational development.
, Loss: Sadness and Depression (Attachment and Loss, Volume III), 1980supporting
living organisms remain the same by changing … the phrase μεταβάλλον ἀναπαύεται more literally means ‘by changing, it stands still’.
McGilchrist invokes Heraclitus and Maximus the Confessor to articulate a paradoxical ontology in which constancy is achieved through metabolic change rather than through stasis, challenging static conceptions of identity.
, The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World, 2021aside
living organisms remain the same by changing … ‘by changing, it stands still’.
A near-duplicate passage reinforcing the Heraclitean paradox that organic constancy is dynamically constituted rather than fixed.
, The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World, 2021aside
there is a total logic of the picture or the spectacle, a felt coherence of the colours, spatial forms and significance of the object.
Merleau-Ponty’s analysis of pictorial coherence provides a contextual illustration of how constancy in perception is a holistic, field-dependent achievement rather than a property of isolated stimuli.
, Phenomenology of Perception, 1962aside