40. Liberation to 48. The Well

Changing lines

1. Line 3

   The third line, magnetic, shows a porter with his burden, yet riding in a carriage. He will only tempt robbers to attack him. However firm and correct he may try to be, there will be cause for regret. The third line is magnetic where it should be dynamic. In the top place of the lower trigram it suggests the idea of a porter riding in a carriage. People will say: "How did he get there? The things cannot be his own." Therefore robbers will attack and plunder him since he can't protect himself or accomplish anything good.

2. Line 4

   To the subject of the fourth line, dynamic, it is said: "Remove your toes. Friends will then come, and there will be mutual confidence between you." Line four is dynamic in a magnetic place, and his correlate is magnetic in a dynamic place. Such a union will not be productive of good. In the symbolism line one becomes the toe of line four. The K'ang-hsi editors say that "Line four is neither central nor in his correct place. He has line one for a correlate and line three for his close associate -- both of whom are magnetic in dynamic places. Hence it is said that they are all in places inappropriate to them."

3. Line 5

   The fifth line, magnetic, shows the superior man (the ruler) executing his function of removing whatever is injurious to the idea of liberation, in which case there will be good fortune, and confidence in him will be shown even by the inferior men. Line five is magnetic in a dynamic place, but the place is that of the ruler, whose duty is to promote liberation by removing all barriers to harmony within the kingdom -- especially all the inferior men symbolized by the divided lines. He can do this with the help of his dynamic correlate in the second line. Then even the inferior men will change their ways, and conform to his will. "The inferior men retire" means that believing in the sincerity of the ruler's determination to remove all evil men, they either retire of themselves or strive to conform to his wishes.

The present judgment

Liberation finds advantage in the southwest. When the operation is completed, a return to stability brings good fortune. If operations are incomplete, it is best to finish them quickly.

The later judgment

Although a town site may be altered, The Well remains the same. Its water level neither disappears nor receives any great increase, and the people can draw from it freely. Misfortune ensues if the rope breaks or the bucket is broken before it reaches the water.

What the move asks

Release the constraints that bind you to access a deeper, more enduring source of sustenance.

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