The Book of Changes · Sui

Hexagram 17: Following

Lake (still water held in a hollow) over Thunder (the storm arriving)

Adapting to what is actually happening, which the tradition rates highly and hedges immediately: to be followed a person must first be willing to follow, and what is followed has to be worth it.

The image

Thunder inside the lake, quiet in the season for it. The reading is that a person goes in at nightfall and rests, because following includes following the hour.

Lake, above

Openness, pleasure, and what is said out loud.

Thunder, below

Shock, beginning, and movement that starts below.

The six lines

Read from the bottom up.

1. Line 1What you are loyal to has shifted. Go out and meet people rather than settling it alone.
2. Line 2Holding on to the small and easy, and losing the person of substance. You cannot keep both.
3. Line 3Holding to the person of substance and letting the easy thing go. That is the trade, and it holds.
4. Line 4People are following you for what they get out of it. Even honestly come by, this needs saying out loud.
5. Line 5Loyal to something genuinely good. Nothing ambiguous in this one.
6. Line 6Bound to it, and the bond honoured publicly. Allegiance that has become a commitment.

The same figure in Human Design

Human Design took its sixty four gates from this book, in this numbering, so hexagram 17 is Gate 17, Opinions.