Before Completion

Fire above

Water below

Translated from Richard Wilhelm's German (1924)

Introduction

This hexagram indicates a time in which the transition out of disorder into order is still incomplete. The turnaround is already prepared, it is true, since all the lines of the upper trigram stand in relation to those of the lower. But as yet they are not in their places. Whereas the preceding hexagram resembles autumn, which is the transition from summer into winter, this hexagram is like spring, which leads out of winter's time of standstill into the fruitful season of summer. The Book of Changes closes on this hopeful prospect.

The Judgment

Before completion. Success. If, however, the little fox, when it has almost completed the crossing, gets its tail into the water, then nothing is favorable.

The situation is difficult. The task is a great one and carries heavy responsibility. It is a matter of nothing less than leading the world out of confusion back into order. Yet the task holds out the promise of success, since a goal exists that can unite the diverging forces. But for now one must still proceed quietly and warily. One must proceed like an old fox walking over ice. In China the caution of the fox when it walks over ice is proverbial. It keeps listening for the cracking and picks out the safest spots with care and circumspection. A young fox that does not yet know this caution goes boldly ahead, and then it may happen that it falls in when it is almost across the water, and gets its tail wet. Then, of course, all the effort was in vain.

Accordingly, the basic condition of success in times before completion is deliberation and caution.

The Image

Fire is above water: the image of the state before the crossing. So the noble one is careful in distinguishing things, so that each finds its place.

When fire, which presses upward in any case, is above, and water, whose movement is downward, is below, their effects move apart and remain unrelated. If one wants to achieve an effect, one must first find out what the nature of the forces in question is and what place is proper to them. If the forces are brought into play at the right point, they have the desired effect, and completion is reached. But to be able to handle the outer forces properly, it is above all necessary to take the right standpoint oneself. For only from there can one act properly.

The Lines

First line, six

They get their tail into the water. Shameful.

In times of disorder it is tempting to push oneself forward as fast as possible in order to achieve something visible. But this enthusiasm leads to nothing but failure and shame as long as the time to accomplish anything has not yet come. At this time the wise thing is to spare oneself the ignominy of failure by holding back. (Note how the situation differs from that of the preceding hexagram's first line.)

Second line, nine

They hold back their wheels. Persistence brings good fortune.

Here too the time for action has not yet come. But the patience that is needed must not be an idle waiting that lives from day to day. That would never lead to success. Rather, one must build up within oneself the strength that enables one to make headway. One must have, as it were, a carriage to make the crossing in. But one must still hold it back. Patience in the highest sense is strength held back. So one must not doze off and lose sight of one's goal. If one remains strong and constant in one's resolve, all goes well in the end.

Third line, six

Before completion, attacking brings misfortune. It is favorable to cross the great water.

The time for the crossing has come. But one is not strong enough to complete the crossing. If one tried to force it, that would bring misfortune, precisely because collapse would then be inevitable. But what is to be done? One must create a new situation; one must enlist the strength of capable helpers and, together with them, take the decisive step – crossing the great water. Completion will then become possible.

Fourth line, nine

Persistence brings good fortune. Regret vanishes. Shock, in order to chastise the Devil's Land. For three years the rewards are great realms.

Now is the time of struggle. The crossing must be made. One must make oneself wholly strong in one's resolve; that brings good fortune. All the misgivings one may feel in such grave times of struggle must fall silent. A fierce struggle is called for, to shock and chastise the Devil's Land, the powers of decay. But the struggle has its reward too. Now the time has come to lay foundations of power and dominion for the future.

Fifth line, six

Persistence brings good fortune. No regret. The light of the noble one is true. Good fortune.

Victory is won. The strength of constancy has not failed. All has gone well. Every misgiving has been overcome. The deed has been justified by its success. Once again the light of a noble personality shines out and prevails among people who believe in it and gather around it. The new era has come, bringing good fortune with it. And as the sun after rain shines out twice as beautifully, or a forest after a fire grows green again with greater freshness out of the charred ruins, so the new era stands out all the more brilliantly against the misery of the old.

Top line, nine

In true confidence, one drinks wine. No fault. But if one gets one's head wet, then one truly loses that.

Before completion, on the threshold of the new era, one is together with one's own people in full mutual confidence and passes the time of waiting over wine. Since the new era is already right at the door, this is no fault. But one must be mindful of the right measure in this. If in exuberance one pours wine over one's head, one loses the favorable situation through immoderation.

Remark: just as hexagram 63, After Completion, represents the gradual transition from the time of ascent, by way of the height of culture, to the time of standstill, so this hexagram, Before Completion, represents the transition from chaos to order. This hexagram ends the Book of Changes. It points out that in every end there lies a new beginning. So it gives people hope. The Book of Changes is itself a book of the future.

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