Reading
Judgment
Holding Together brings good fortune.
Consult the oracle once more,
whether you have sublimity, duration, and perseverance;
then there is no blame.
The uncertain gradually come forth.
Whoever comes too late has misfortune.
The matter at hand is joining with others, so that through holding together one may complete and further one another. For such a holding together there must be a center around which the others gather. To become the center for people's holding together is a weighty matter, with great responsibility. It calls for inner greatness, consistency, and strength. Therefore whoever would unite others around themself should examine themself as to whether they are equal to the task; for whoever tries to gather others without the seal of true calling causes more confusion than if no union had taken place at all.
But where a genuine gathering point is present, the uncertain, at first still hesitant, gradually come forth of themselves. Those who come too late bear the harm of it themselves. For in holding together too, the right time is essential. Relationships form and firm up according to definite inner laws. Shared experiences strengthen them, and whoever comes too late and can no longer take part in these foundational shared experiences suffers for it as a latecomer who finds the door shut.
Whoever has recognized the necessity of union but does not feel within themself the strength to act as the center of holding together has the duty to attach themself to some other organic community.
Image
On the earth is water: the image of Holding Together.
Thus the kings of antiquity bestowed the individual states as fiefs
and cultivated friendly relations with the feudal princes.
Water on the earth fills up every hollow and clings firmly to it. The social organization of antiquity was founded on this principle of holding together between dependents and ruler. Water flows together of itself because in all its parts it stands under the same laws. So must human society hold together through a community of interests that lets each individual feel themself a member of a whole. The central authority of a social organism must see to it that every member finds their true interest in holding together, as was the case in the paternal relation between the great king and the feudal holders in Chinese antiquity.
Commentary
Water over the earth flows together wherever it can, for example in the sea, where all rivers gather. This is a symbol that points to holding together and to its laws. The same thought is suggested by the fact that all the lines are soft except for the firm line in the fifth place, at the place of the ruler. The soft lines hold together in that they are influenced by the firm will in the leading position, which is their point of union. But this strong, leading personality also holds together with the others, through whom they find a complement to their own being.
Changing Lines
Line 1
A six at the beginning means:
Hold to him truly and faithfully: that is no blame.
Truth, like a full earthen bowl:
so in the end good fortune comes from without.
Commentary
When it is a matter of forming relationships, full truthfulness is the only right foundation. This disposition, represented by the image of a filled earthen bowl in which all is substance and nothing empty form, expresses itself not in clever words but through the strength of the inner being, and this strength is so great that it powerfully draws good fortune to it from without.
Line 2
A six in the second place means:
Hold to him inwardly. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Commentary
If one meets in a right and persevering manner the calls that come from above summoning us to action, the relations with the other are in the first place inward; one does not lose oneself. But whoever seeks holding together in an ambitious, clinging way does not follow the path of the noble one who preserves their dignity; rather, they throw themself away.
Line 3
A six in the third place means:
You hold together with people
who are not the right ones.
Commentary
One is often among people who do not belong to one's own sphere. Here one must not let oneself be carried away by the force of habit into a false familiarity. That this would be an evil hardly needs to be said. Sociability without intimacy is the only right thing toward such people; only thus does one keep oneself free for a later relation to one's own kind.
Line 4
A six in the fourth place means:
Hold to him also outwardly. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Commentary
The relationships with a man who is the center of holding together are already firmly regulated here. One may and should also show one's attachment openly. One must only remain firm and not let oneself be thrown off by anything.
Line 5
A nine in the fifth place means:
Manifestation of Holding Together.
The king drives the game only from three sides
and renounces the game that turns aside in front.
The citizens need no warning. Good fortune!
Commentary
At the royal hunts of ancient China it was the custom for the game to be driven in from three sides. On the fourth side the driven game could turn aside. Those animals that did not turn aside had to enter a gate behind which the king stood ready to hunt. Only the animals that came in at this point were shot. Those that turned aside in front were let go. This custom corresponded to the royal disposition, which did not wish to make the hunt into slaughter but only took down the game that, so to speak, had offered itself willingly.
Here is shown a ruler, or an influential person, to whom people rally. Whoever comes to them is received; whoever does not come is let go. They beg no one, flatter no one: they all come of themselves. In this way a free attachment forms in those who hold to them. The people do not need to force themselves together; they can show their disposition openly and without pressure. No policing arrangements are needed. They are attached to their lord of themselves.
This freedom also holds for life in general. One should not court people's favor. If one cultivates in oneself the purity and strength necessary for a center of gathering, then the people who are destined for one come of themselves.
Line 6
A six at the top means:
He finds no head for Holding Together. Misfortune.
Commentary
The head is the beginning. Without a right beginning there is no right end. If one has missed the moment of joining and now delays, shrinking back before full and true devotion, one will repent the fault too late.