I Ching · hexagram

4.
Youthful Folly

The five fields below are original writing for this project — a short modern reflection, not a translation of the traditional judgement, not a per-line reading. Sit with whichever one meets you tonight.

Hexagram 4, six lines bottom to top

Hexagram 4 — 山水蒙, six lines drawn bottom to top.
  1. 6
  2. 5
  3. 4
  4. 3
  5. 2
  6. 1

4 · 山水蒙

Trigrams

  • Lower trigram: Water · Abysmal, repeating, the current that holds you.
  • Upper trigram: Mountain · Keeping still, the line where the body stops.

Lines are numbered from bottom (1) to top (6). Read the figure from the bottom up.

Core theme

Stay a beginner on purpose.

What this may be asking of you

There is more not-yet-understood than you would like. That is the medicine, not the obstacle. The wise move is to keep asking, to admit what you do not see, and to learn from anyone who can teach you, regardless of their status.

One gentle next step

Send a genuine question to one person whose thinking you respect, and listen longer than is comfortable.

Signals to watch

Performing competence to avoid the discomfort of being new.

A reflection question

Where am I pretending to know more than I do?

The reflection below is original to Turning Lines. It is not a translation of the traditional judgement (彖辞), not a per-line reading (爻辞), and not medical, legal, or financial advice.

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