inside The Lots · I Ching
17. Following (Sui)
Perspectives
Wilhelm
Thunder over lake. Suggests adapting to change and following good leadership.
Modern
Today, Following shows up as adapting to a sound direction. Follow what is genuinely worthy, remain alert to where it leads, and avoid attachment to empty fashion. Look at your routines, tools, and obligations: where are you forcing outcomes, and where would a clearer method serve better?
Love
In relationships, Following speaks to adapting to a sound direction. Follow what is genuinely worthy, remain alert to where it leads, and avoid attachment to empty fashion. Ask what builds trust between you now—honesty, patience, shared effort—and what quietly erodes it.
Career
At work, Following concerns adapting to a sound direction. Follow what is genuinely worthy, remain alert to where it leads, and avoid attachment to empty fashion. Let competence and timing guide your next move more than urgency, politics, or the need to appear decisive.
Spiritual
As inner guidance, Following reveals adapting to a sound direction. Follow what is genuinely worthy, remain alert to where it leads, and avoid attachment to empty fashion. Treat this as practice: stay present with what is arising, and let the next sincere action matter more than control.
Psychology
Psychologically, Following mirrors adapting to a sound direction. Follow what is genuinely worthy, remain alert to where it leads, and avoid attachment to empty fashion. Notice the familiar reaction—rushing, withdrawing, proving, fixing—and choose a response that fits the present facts.
Decision
For a decision, Following advises through adapting to a sound direction. Follow what is genuinely worthy, remain alert to where it leads, and avoid attachment to empty fashion. Weigh what you can sustain after the choice is made, not only what feels relieving in the moment.
Changing lines
- Line 1. The standard is changing. Perseverance brings good fortune. To go out of the door in company produces deeds.
- Line 2. If one clings to the little boy, one loses the strong man.
- Line 3. If one clings to the strong man, one loses the little boy. Through following one finds what one seeks. It furthers one to remain persevering.
- Line 4. Following creates success. Perseverance brings misfortune. To go one's way with sincerity brings clarity. How could there be blame in this?
- Line 5. Sincere in the good. Good fortune.
- Line 6. He meets with firm allegiance and is still further bound. The king introduces him to the Western Mountain.