What this change means
An encounter at the horns, a little distress and yet no fault: the top line is the heart of this movement. Keeping your distance from unsuitable people may make you look proud or aloof, but that is better than getting involved with them. In Lack of Firmness, where the danger is letting the wrong influences in, this line takes the opposite stance, and the reading accepts its cost. As Heaven above becomes Lake, the figure turns into a lake rising over the trees, and the resulting hexagram, 28 Excesses, describes a situation that calls for extraordinary measures to keep what you've built from collapsing. So don't worry too much about how your distance looks. Strengthen your foundations, take the unusual step if it's needed, and accept a little misunderstanding as the price of protecting what matters.
What to read, in order
Marked ● is what Zhu Xi's tradition puts at the center for this number of moving lines.
- Line 6 of 44 Lack of Firmness
Your distance from unsuitable people makes you look proud and aloof, but that's better than getting involved with them.
Meeting with the horns. Distress. No fault.
- The judgment of 44 Lack of Firmness
You're surrounded by unsuitable people or situations. You know it, but you think you have the power to control them and don't take them very seriously; it may even be a bad habit. If you don't pay attention and set firm limits, they'll take control over you and you won't be able to pull away.
The woman is strong. Do not take her as a wife.
- The judgment of 28 Excesses
You're in a situation that calls for extraordinary measures to keep what you've achieved from collapsing. Check and strengthen the foundations that hold up your projects, take innovative action and step out of your comfort zone. That way your success is assured; otherwise, loss can't be avoided.
The ridgepole sags. It is favorable to have somewhere to go. Success.
The trigrams
The way back
28 Excesses → 44 Lack of Firmnessline 6
Other transformations of Lack of Firmness
Make your own cast
The answer changes with the question. Toss the coins and see which lines move for you.