60 – Sixty Chieh / Limitations
Waters difficult to keep within the Lake’s banks:
The Superior Person examines the nature of virtue and makes himself a standard that can be followed.
Self-discipline brings success; but restraints too binding bring self-defeat.
SITUATION ANALYSIS:
Cultivating the proper disciplines and the proper degree of discipline are the concerns of this hexagram.
By limiting options, you may give more attention to priorities.
One who is all over the map is no less lost than one without a map.
Avoid asceticism, however.
Deprivation is not wise discipline.
The key here is regulation, not restriction.
Nine in the second place means:
Not going out of the gate and the courtyard
Brings misfortune.
When the time for action has come, the moment must be quickly seized. Just as water first collects in a lake without flowing out, yet is certain to find an outlet when the lake is full, so it is in the life of man. It is a good thing to hesitate so long as the time for action has not come, but no longer. Once the obstacles to action have been removed, anxious hesitation is a mistake that is bound to bring disaster, because one misses one’s opportunity.
3 – Three Chun / Difficulty at the Beginning
Thunder from the Deep:
The Superior Person carefully weaves order out of confusion.
Supreme Success if you keep to your course.
Carefully consider the first move.
Seek help.
SITUATION ANALYSIS:
New ventures always pack along their inherent chaos.
Though this is an annoyance at best, and can even imperil or downright doom an endeavor, it is also the friction needed to polish your project to jewel brilliance.
Learn from these early obstacles.
