This Concerns The Deepest Stratum Of His Being

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The lake is above, water below; the lake is empty, dried up. Exhaustion is expressed in yet another way: at the top, a dark line is holding down two light lines; below, a light line is hemmed in between two dark ones. The upper trigram belongs to the principle of darkness, the lower to the principle of light. Thus everywhere superior men are oppressed and held in restraint by inferior men.

The Judgement:

Oppression. Success. Perseverance.

The great man brings about good fortune.

No blame.

When one has something to say, it is not believed.

Times of adversity are the reverse of times of success, but they can lead to success if they befall the right man. When a strong man meets with adversity, he remains cheerful despite all danger, and this cheerfulness is the source of later successes; it is that stability which is stronger than fate. He who lets his spirit be broken by exhaustion certainly has no success. But if adversity only bends a man, it creates in him a power to react that is bound in time to manifest itself. No inferior man is capable of this. Only the great man brings about good fortune and remains blameless. It is true that for the time being outward influence is denied him, because his words have no effect. Therefore in times of adversity it is important to be strong within and sparing of words.

The Image:

There is no water in the lake.

The image of EXHAUSTION.

Thus the superior man stakes his life

On following his will.

When the water has flowed out below, the lake must dry up and become exhausted. That is fate. This symbolizes an adverse fate in human life. In such times there is nothing a man can do but acquiese in his fate and remain true to himself. This concerns the deepest stratum of his being, for this alone is superior to all external fate.

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Six in the third place means:

A man permits himself to be oppressed by stone,

And leans on thorns and thistles.

This shows a man who is restless and indecisive in times of adversity. At first he wants to push ahead, then he encounters obstructions that, it is true, mean oppression only when recklessly dealt with. He butts his head against a wall and in consequence feels himself oppressed by the wall. Then he leans on things that have in themselves no stability and are that merely a hazard for him who leans on them.

--I Ching (from Hexagram 47)

looking east from Boucher Trail (top)

Coconino sandstone, Dripping Springs Trail (middle)

upper Ruby Canyon (below)