The trigram above – SUN – the Gentle, Wind, Wood
The trigram below – KEN – Keeping Still, Mountain
General: It is only possible to perfect every detail of advancement when progress is steady and patient.
Love: Deepening your relationship is more likely if you make steady and unhurried progress.
Business: You should take the time to focus on the big and small details of your business.
Personal: Focus on the particulars of your life in order to appreciate its fullness.
This hexagram is made up of Sun (wood, penetration) above, i.e., without, and Ken (mountain, stillness) below, i.e., within. A tree on a mountain develops slowly according to the law of its being and consequently stands firmly rooted. This gives the idea of a development that proceeds gradually, step by step. The attributes of the trigrams also point to this: within is tranquillity, which guards against precipitate actions, and without is penetration, which makes development and progress possible.
The development of events that leads to a girl’s following a man to his home proceeds slowly. The various formalities must be disposed of before the marriage takes place. This principle of gradual development can be applied to other situations as well; it is always applicable where it is a matter of correct relationships of co-operation, as for instance in the appointment of an official. The development must be allowed to take its proper course. Hasty action would not be wise. This is also true, finally, of any effort to exert influence on others, for here too the essential factor s a correct way of development through cultivation of ones own personality. No influence such as that exerted by agitators has a lasting effect.
Within the personality too, development must follow the same course if lasting results are to be achieved. Gentleness that is adaptable, but at the same time penetrating, is the outer form that should proceed from inner calm.
The very gradualness of the development makes it necessary to have perseverance, for perseverance along prevents slow progress from dwindling to nothing.
