58. The Joyous (Lake)

The two trigrams

above

☱

The Lake

兌 · duì

gathered water, as in a marsh or lake

below

☱

The Lake

兌 · duì

gathered water, as in a marsh or lake

The Judgement

The Lake is pleasure, the serene joy that is shared. This hexagram announces progress and attainment, but with a precise clause: it will help you to be firm and correct. The commentators Legge quotes explain why: mildness and harmony, if not guided by sincerity and integrity, lose their correctness and may degenerate into something spoiled. True joy, they say, rests on the strong lines, like the spring breeze that raises vapours from the water gathered on the earth; without that strength beneath, only surface remains. If these days you feel light, if a love, a friendship, a moment of leisure is doing you good, this hexagram tells you to enjoy it without guilt, but not to mistake pleasure for a purpose. The practical advice is simple: choose the company and pleasures that leave you stronger, not emptier, and stay honest even when you are cheerful. The serenity that lasts is the one with something solid underneath.

The Image

Two lakes one above the other, feeding each other. The wise person, says the image, encourages conversation among friends and the stimulus of their common practice: Legge recalls the proverbs about iron sharpening iron. For you it means that the most fertile joy is the one born of exchange: studying together, training together, comparing notes on a project. If you have isolated yourself, it is the right moment to call that friend with whom talking makes you smarter, and to propose something to do together, not just to say.

First line

First line: the pleasure of inward harmony. You need no one in order to be well: serenity comes from within, and there is nothing in your conduct that could raise doubts. There will be good fortune. If at the moment you have no great support or allies, do not worry: you are enough for yourself. Cultivate the small daily joys that do not depend on others, a walk, a job done well, and you will see that others will come, drawn precisely by this tranquillity.

Second line

Second line: the pleasure that arises from inward sincerity. There will be good fortune, and causes for regret disappear. Next to you there is someone, or something, that could drag you toward cheap amusements; but your central position, your basic honesty, protects you. If you feel tempted to let yourself go with company or habits that do you no honour, there is no need to run away: it is enough to stay true. Say what you think, keep your word, and the joy that follows will be clean.

Third line

Third line: you gather around you whatever can give pleasure. There will be misfortune. It is the line of someone who seeks joy outside, piling up distractions, purchases, people, and never finds enough, because the place they stand in is not the right one for them. Be careful: if you notice you are filling your days with amusements so as not to feel an emptiness, the problem is not solved by adding more. This is not the moment to spend, to go out every night, to say yes to everything. Stop and ask what is really missing.

Fourth line

Fourth line: you are deliberating about where to seek your pleasure, and you find no rest. You border on what could harm you, but there will be cause for joy. Legge explains that here the person reflects and weighs before yielding to enticements, and that very hesitation saves them. If you are torn between a temptation and a healthier choice, in love, in money, in habits, take your doubt seriously: it is your better part speaking. Reflect one more day, and choose what will make you happy tomorrow too.

Fifth line

Fifth line: you trust someone who would harm you. The situation is perilous. You are in a correct and strong position, and precisely for that reason you risk not seeing that the person you give credit to, above you or beside you, does not deserve that trust; your very sincerity can be used against you. Be wary of those who flatter you, who propose easy deals, who always agree. The advice is to verify before entrusting, and not to let liking replace judgement.

Sixth line

Sixth line: your pleasure lies in leading and attracting others. The text gives no explicit omen, but the Appendix observes that here the virtue is not yet brilliant: the charm is there, the solidity is not. If you enjoy being at the centre, carrying the group along, being the one who proposes the evening or the project, ask yourself where you are taking those who follow you. Be careful not to use others as an audience. Lead only toward what you yourself have verified to be good, and your influence will become a gift, not a vanity.

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