未濟
wèi jì

64. Before Completion

䷿
Above
離 lí
The Clinging, Flame
Below
坎 kǎn
The Abysmal, Water

This hexa­gram in­di­cates a time when the tran­si­tion from dis­or­der to order is not yet com­plet­ed. The change is in­deed pre­pared for, since all the lines in the upper tri­gram are in re­la­tion to those in the lower. How­ev­er, they are not yet in their places. While the pre­ced­ing hexa­gram of­fers an anal­o­gy to au­tumn, which forms the tran­si­tion from sum­mer to win­ter, this hexa­gram presents a par­al­lel to spring, which leads out of win­ter’s stag­na­tion into the fruit­ful time of sum­mer. With this hope­ful out­look the Book of Changes comes to its close.

The Judgement

Before completion. Success.
But if the little fox, after nearly completing the
crossing,
Gets his tail in the water,
There is nothing that would further.

The con­di­tions are dif­fi­cult. The task is great and full of re­spon­si­bil­i­ty. It is noth­ing less than that of lead­ing the world out of con­fu­sion back to order. But it is a task that promis­es suc­cess, be­cause there is a goal that can unite the forces now tend­ing in dif­fer­ent di­rec­tions. At first, how­ev­er, one must move war­i­ly, like an old fox walk­ing over ice. The cau­tion of a fox walk­ing over ice is prover­bial in China. His ears are con­stant­ly alert to the crack­ing of the ice, as he care­ful­ly and cir­cum­spect­ly search­es out the safest spots. A young fox who as yet has not ac­quired this cau­tion goes ahead bold­ly, and it may hap­pen that he falls in and gets his tail wet when he is al­most across the water. Then of course his ef­fort has been all in vain. Ac­cord­ing­ly, in times “be­fore com­ple­tion,” de­lib­er­a­tion and cau­tion are the pre­req­ui­sites of suc­cess.

The Image

Fire over water:
The image of the condition before transition.
Thus the superior man is careful
In the differentiation of things,
So that each finds its place.

When fire, which by na­ture flames up­ward, is above, and water, which flows down­ward, is below, their ef­fects take op­po­site di­rec­tions and re­main un­re­lat­ed. If we wish to achieve an ef­fect, we must first in­ves­ti­gate the na­ture of the forces in ques­tion and as­cer­tain their prop­er place. If we can bring these forces to bear in the right place, they will have the de­sired ef­fect, and com­ple­tion will be achieved. But in order to han­dle ex­ter­nal forces prop­er­ly, we must above all ar­rive at the cor­rect stand­point our­selves, for only from this van­tage can we work cor­rect­ly.

The Lines

Six at the beginning means:
He gets his tail in the water.
Humiliating.

In times of dis­or­der there is a temp­ta­tion to ad­vance one­self as rapid­ly as pos­si­ble in order to ac­com­plish some­thing tan­gi­ble. But this en­thu­si­asm leads only to fail­ure and hu­mil­i­a­tion if the time for achieve­ment has not yet ar­rived. In such a time it is wise to spare our­selves the op­pro­bri­um of fail­ure by hold­ing back.s

Nine in the second place means:
He brakes his wheels.
Perseverance brings good fortune.

Here again the time to act has not yet come. But the pa­tience need­ed is not that of idle wait­ing with­out thought of the mor­row. Kept up in­def­i­nite­ly, this would not lead to any suc­cess. In­stead, an in­di­vid­ual must de­vel­op in him­self the strength that will en­able him to go for­ward. He must have a ve­hi­cle, as it were, to ef­fect the cross­ing. But he must for the time being use the brakes. Pa­tience in the high­est sense means putting brakes on strength. There­fore he must not fall asleep and lose sight of the goal. If he re­mains strong and stead­fast in his re­solve, all goes well in the end.

Six in the third place means:
Before completion, attack brings misfortune.
It furthers one to cross the great water.

The time of tran­si­tion has ar­rived, but one lacks the strength to com­plete the tran­si­tion. If one should at­tempt to force it, dis­as­ter would re­sult, be­cause col­lapse would then be un­avoid­able. What is to be done? A new sit­u­a­tion must be cre­at­ed; one must en­gage the en­er­gies of able helpers and in this fel­low­ship take the de­ci­sive step—cross the great water. Then com­ple­tion will be­come pos­si­ble.

Nine in the fourth place means:
Perseverance brings good fortune.
Remorse disappears.
Shock, thus to discipline the Devil’s Country.
For three years, great realms are awarded.

Now it is the time of strug­gle. The tran­si­tion must be com­plet­ed. We must make our­selves strong in res­o­lu­tion; this brings good for­tune. All mis­giv­ings that might arise in such grave times of strug­gle must be si­lenced. It is a ques­tion of a fierce bat­tle to break and to dis­ci­pline the Devil’s Coun­try, the forces of deca­dence. But the strug­gle also has its re­ward. Now is the time to lay the foun­da­tions of power and mas­tery for the fu­ture.

Six in the fifth place means:
Perseverance brings good fortune.
No remorse.
The light of the superior man is true.
Good fortune.

The vic­to­ry has been won. The power of stead­fast­ness has not been rout­ed. Every­thing has gone well. All mis­giv­ings have been over­come. Suc­cess has jus­ti­fied the deed. The light of a su­pe­ri­or per­son­al­i­ty shines forth anew and makes its in­flu­ence felt among men who have faith in it and rally around it. The new time has ar­rived, and with it good for­tune. And just as the sun shines forth in re­dou­bled beau­ty after rain, or as a for­est grows more fresh­ly green from charred ruins after a fire, so the new era ap­pears all the more glo­ri­ous by con­trast with the mis­ery of the old.

Nine at the top means:
There is drinking of wine
In genuine confidence. No blame.
But if one wets his head,
He loses it, in truth.

Be­fore com­ple­tion, at the dawn­ing of the new time, friends fore­gath­er in an at­mos­phere of mu­tu­al trust, and the time of wait­ing is passed in con­vivi­al­i­ty. Since the new era is hard on the thresh­old, there is no blame in this. But one must be care­ful in all this to keep with­in prop­er bounds. If in his ex­u­ber­ance a man gets drunk, he for­feits the fa­vor­able­ness of the sit­u­a­tion through his in­tem­per­ance.

Note. The hexa­gram after com­ple­tion rep­re­sents a grad­ual tran­si­tion from a time of as­cent past a peak of cul­ture to a time of stand­still. The hexa­gram BE­FORE COM­PLE­TION rep­re­sents a tran­si­tion from chaos to order. This hexa­gram comes at the end of the Book of Changes. It points to the fact that every end con­tains a new be­gin­ning. Thus it gives hope to men. The Book of Changes is a book of the fu­ture.