4 – Four Mêng / Inexperience
A fresh Spring at the foot of the Mountain:
The Superior Person refines his character by being thorough in every activity.
The Sage does not recruit students; the students seek him.
He asks nothing but a sincere desire to learn.
If the student doubts or challenges his authority, the Sage regretfully cuts his losses.
SITUATION ANALYSIS:
This is a time of interchange between a mentor and pupil.
Whether you are the teacher or the student, it is a time of companionship along a mutual path.
This hexagram also emphasizes the eternal, cyclical nature of the mentor/student relationship — a mentor is merely a more seasoned pupil, further along on the journey.
A pupil holds within himself the seed of a future Master.
Six in the fourth place means:
Entangled folly brings humiliation.
For youthful folly it is the most hopeless thing to entangle itself in empty imaginings. The more obstinately it clings to such unreal fantasies, the more certainly will humiliation overtake it.
Often the teacher, when confronted with such entangled folly, has no other course but to leave the fool to himself for a time, not sparing him the humiliation that results. This is frequently the only means of rescue. |
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64 – Sixty-Four Wei Chi / The End In Sight
Fire ascends above the Water:
The Superior Person examines the nature of things and keeps each in its proper place.
Too anxious the young fox gets his tail wet, just as he completes his crossing.
To attain success, be like the man and not like the fox.
SITUATION ANALYSIS:
Resist the rush to completion.
Anticipation of fulfillment may cause you to be careless before you have fully absorbed the lessons of the journey.
The endpoint of this Quest will only prove to be the threshold for another.
You are short steps from Mastery on this plane, yet you stride toward Ignorance of the challenges lying beyond.
Savor this accomplishment.
Fully Become.
Take full possession of your world before embarking to discover the next one.
That voyage begins soon enough, and you will reminisce about this one.
These are the Good Old Days.