I Ching · Hexagram 20 Contemplation
Hexagram 20 line 1: Contemplation, yin in the first place
I Ching 20.1
Boy-like contemplation. For a lesser person no blame; for the superior person, humiliation.
Seeing only the surface, as a child sees a procession. Excusable in someone with no responsibility; embarrassing in someone who should understand more. The line asks how deep your looking goes.
Advice. If you are responsible for the situation, look deeper than the surface.
What changes when line 1 moves
Line 1 of Hexagram 20 is yin, a broken line. When it is cast as old yin (a 6) it flips, and the hexagram becomes Hexagram 42, Increase: The top gives to the base and everything grows: a time of increase, to be used well and used now.
Read together, the reading moves from Contemplation toward Increase. Looking and being looked at: a moment for seeing the whole clearly before anything is done. Thunder below, wind above: the two reinforcing each other, wind spreading the thunder's force. Increase is the mirror of Decrease: what is above gives to what is below, and the whole flourishes. The primary hexagram describes the situation; the changing line is the point of movement in it; the resulting hexagram is where that movement leads. Both hexagrams belong to the reading, and the changing line is the hinge between them.
Line 1 in context
- Love & relationships
- If you are responsible for the situation, look deeper than the surface. In love and relationships, Hexagram 20 reads: Step back and look at the whole relationship rather than the last argument. See the pattern. The reading also reminds you that how you behave is being observed and forms the other person's view of you.
- Career
- If you are responsible for the situation, look deeper than the surface. In career, Hexagram 20 reads: A time for assessment rather than action: survey the whole field, understand the people, and set an example by how you conduct the survey. Others are watching how you look at them.
- Money
- If you are responsible for the situation, look deeper than the surface. In money, Hexagram 20 reads: Review before you act. Look at the whole financial picture with honesty, including the parts you have been avoiding. Decisions made from this overview are sounder than any made in the moment.
- A decision
- If you are responsible for the situation, look deeper than the surface. In decisions, Hexagram 20 reads: Do not decide yet; see. Take the widest view available, examine your own motives, and let the decision follow from clarity. The pause is not avoidance; it is the offering before the act.
Cast your own reading
The topic is pre-selected. The hexagram is not: the coins decide it.
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