Today: Be in the storm.  See it exactly as it is.  Do not assume it is coming for you.” – from the I Ching

51 – Fifty-One  Chên / Thunder

Thunder echoes upon Thunder, commanding reverence for its father Heaven:
In awe of Heaven’s majestic power, the Superior Person looks within and sets his life in order.
Thunder mingles with startled screams of terror for a hundred miles around.
As the people nervously laugh at their own fright, the devout presents the sacrificial chalice with nary a drop of wine spilt.
Deliverance

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

A thunderbolt of Cosmic judgement crashes to earth.
For the common person, it’s just a momentary fright soon forgotten, its warning unfathomed and unheeded.
But to one who understands its significance, this thunder is a signal to repent.
Centering the Self, seeking balance, the enlightened person will respect and align himself with this Higher Power, while his fellows remain subject to the whims of every passing storm.

Nine in the fourth place means:

Shock is mired.

Movement within the mind depends for its success partly on circumstances. If there is neither a resistance that might be vigorously combated, nor yet a yielding that permits of victory – if, instead, everything is tough and inert like mire – movement is crippled.

63 – Sixty-Three  Chi Chi / Aftermath

Boiling Water over open Flame, one might extinguish The other:
The Superior Person takes a 360 degree view of the situation and prepares for any contingency.

Success in small matters if you stay on course.
Early good fortune can end in disorder.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

Victory at the expense of another is a merciless taskmaster.
The precarious balance here is reflected in the lines of the hexagram: each of the yin lines rests upon a strong yang line — a seemingly perfect arrangement.
But the scales will be tipped with the change of any one line.
And there WILL be change.
Tireless vigilance and an answer to every challenge — that is the uneasy Seat of Power occupied by the conqueror.