Hexagram 4 line 4: Youthful Folly, yin in the fourth place

What changes when line 4 moves

Line 4 of Hexagram 4 is yin, a broken line. When it is cast as old yin (a 6) it flips, and the hexagram becomes Hexagram 64, Before Completion: The crossing almost made: every line out of place, the end in sight, and the last step the most dangerous.

Read together, the reading moves from Youthful Folly toward Before Completion. Inexperience seeking guidance: the learner must ask, and the teacher must not be asked twice for the same answer. Water below, fire above: fire rising and water sinking, the two not yet meeting. Every line is in the wrong place, the exact reverse of After Completion, and the book ends here, on the threshold. 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.

Hexagram 4 changing to 64 →

Line 4 in context

Love & relationships

Stop insulating yourself from facts; the humiliation is the cure. In love and relationships, Hexagram 4 reads: Someone in the situation is inexperienced, and pretending otherwise is the problem. Be honest about what you do not know. If you are the one being asked for the same reassurance repeatedly, the reading supports a kind, firm answer given once.

Career

Stop insulating yourself from facts; the humiliation is the cure. In career, Hexagram 4 reads: A learning position. Find the person who knows and ask properly; do not ask everyone, and do not keep asking the same thing. The reading rewards the humble learner and the teacher who sets clear limits.

Money

Stop insulating yourself from facts; the humiliation is the cure. In money, Hexagram 4 reads: Do not act on money matters you do not understand. Take advice from someone qualified, once, and follow it. The folly the hexagram names is repeating a question because you dislike the answer.

A decision

Stop insulating yourself from facts; the humiliation is the cure. In decisions, Hexagram 4 reads: You do not yet know enough to decide well. Get guidance, sincerely, from one good source, and then act on it rather than shopping for a second opinion that agrees with you.