Hexagram 4: Youthful Folly

Structure of the sign

In this hexagram the idea of youth and folly is suggested in two ways. The upper trigram, Gen, has the image of a mountain; the lower, Kan, has the image of water. A spring bubbling up at the foot of the mountain is the image of inexperienced youth. The attribute of the upper trigram is keeping still, that of the lower is the abyss, danger. Pausing in standstill before a dangerous abyss is likewise a symbol of the perplexed folly of youth. But in the two trigrams also lies the way by which youthful follies can be overcome: water is something that of necessity flows on. When the spring gushes forth, it does not know at first, to be sure, whither it will go. But through its steady flow it fills up the deep place that hinders its progress, and then success is won.

The Judgment

Youthful folly has success. It is not I who seek the young fool; the young fool seeks me. At the first oracle I inform him. If he asks two or three times, it is importunity. If he importunes, I give no information. Perseverance furthers. In youth, folly is nothing bad. Success may yet be attained. One need only find an experienced teacher and approach him in the right way. This requires first of all that one feels one's own inexperience and seeks out a teacher. Only this modesty and this interest guarantee the necessary receptivity, which will express itself in respectful recognition of the teacher. Therefore the teacher must wait quietly until he is sought out. He should not offer himself of his own accord: only thus can instruction take place at the right time and in the right way. The answer that the teacher gives to the pupil's questions should be clear and definite, like the answer an oracle-seeker desires to receive. It must then be accepted as a solution of doubt and a decision. Distrustful or thoughtless further questioning serves only to importune the teacher, and is best met with silence, just as the oracle gives only one answer and refuses to respond to tempting questions of doubt. If to this is added the perseverance that does not slacken until one has mastered the material point by point, a fine success will be certain. The hexagram thus gives counsel both to the one who teaches and to the one who learns.

The Image

A spring wells up at the foot of the mountain: the image of youth. Thus the superior man fosters his character by thoroughness in all that he does. The spring comes into flow and overcomes stagnation by filling all the hollow places in its path. In the same way, the road to character building is thoroughness, which skips nothing, but gradually and steadily fills all the gaps like water and thus moves forward.

The lines