家人

37. The family

jiārén · Lake ☱ over Fire ☲

Order arising from clear principles within one's closest circle.

The Noble One's Path

Wind emerging from fire. The Noble One speaks with substance, and acts with steadiness (Xin) — the foundation of a family is the consistency of words and deeds.

The Lesson

Start by repairing the foundations within your closest circle. Authority is built through example, not through severity.

A question to sit with

Is there clarity of principle in my closest circle, or rather chaos from a lack of conversation?

Related hexagrams

In the I Ching no hexagram stands alone. Each one enters into relationships with others, and those relationships show the situation seen from the other side, in its opposite, and in its hidden tendency.

64. Not yet completed

未濟

易

The classical deep dive for this hexagram — the Judgment and the Image after Richard Wilhelm — along with the texts of all six changing lines, is in the book. Get the book

卦

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