Hexagram 16
Enthusiasm
豫Yù
☳ Thunder above, ☷ Earth below
Out of the earth the thunder breaks upward and the whole land springs to life: movement resting on willingness awakens joy and sets many in motion at once.
The JudgmentEnthusiasm: it is worthwhile to appoint helpers and to set armies marching. What moves with the current of the time and carries hearts along finds a hearing and moves multitudes; resistance dissolves where joy leads the way.
The ImageThunder rolls booming out of the earth: the image of enthusiasm. So the kings of old made music to honor merit, and offered it solemnly to the highest deity, with their ancestors present. What bursts loose from the depths wants form: rhythm, music, festivity; shared joy that honors the invisible binds a community deeper than rules do.
InterpretationOne strong line (the fourth) sets five weak ones in motion, as the first thunder of spring wakes the earth: this is the power of enthusiasm that moves by itself. It appears when there is energy and support for something new: people want to come along. Use that: appoint helpers, give the movement the rhythm and form the Image asks for, and make the beginning a celebration people will remember. But test the foundation: enthusiasm for something real moves mountains, enthusiasm for emptiness is a high that ends in a hangover. And keep your own head cool amid the joy; the one leading the movement dances along but also counts the beat.
Place in the sequenceAfter 15, Modesty, comes enthusiasm: to greatness that carries itself modestly, joy comes of its own accord, and that joy sets others in motion. It forms a pair with 15 · Modesty.
Nuclear hexagram
The nuclear hexagram of Enthusiasm is 39 · Obstruction: Obstruction: do not push stubbornly against the mountain; choose the passable road, seek counsel and friends, and turn your gaze inward as well. It is formed from the inner lines and shows the hidden core of the situation.
The six lines
These texts belong to changing lines in a reading, from the bottom up.
Six at the beginning
Enthusiasm that voices itself brings misfortune.
Trumpeting right away how great it is going to be and what important people you are running with wastes the power before the work has begun. Enthusiasm that is mainly displayed is usually empty, and those around you feel it sooner than you do. Show the fire in what you do, not in what you proclaim. Talk about results once they exist; until then, quiet anticipation is the strongest form.
Six in the second place
Firm as a stone:
not waiting even a day, perseverance brings good fortune. In the middle of the rush, one person stays sober: he sees the seeds (the first signs of a turn, upward or downward) and acts that same day. Do not be swept along by the mood of the group, not even the good mood; sobriety amid excitement is a rare strength, at parties and on the stock market alike. With an eye for the seeds you never have to decide in panic: you were always early.
Six in the third place
Enthusiasm that gazes upward creates remorse; hesitating brings remorse.
Hanging your enthusiasm on what the leader, the trend, or the group thinks of it forfeits your moment twice: first by waiting for the sign from above, then through the regret afterward. Permission rarely comes by itself. If you wait until someone else says you may begin, the time is gone before it arrives. Find the movement within yourself, or admit that you do not have it.
Nine in the fourth placeruling line
The source of enthusiasm:
great things are achieved. Do not doubt; friends gather around you like hair around a clasp. Here you are the one from whom the movement flows: your certainty of purpose is what binds the others and gives them courage. In this position doubt is not modesty but leakage; whoever is the center of the movement must be clear about where it is going. People do not join a plan; they join someone who truly stands for something and does not do it by halves.
Six in the fifth place
Constantly ill, and yet he does not die.
A persistent pressure (an ailment, a worry, a stubborn limitation) keeps you out of the full rush, and that is not only a curse: unable to join the party, you also do not fall asleep at the wheel. The hindrance keeps you awake and alert as long as the enthusiasm rages around you. Carry it without making it your identity, and use the wakefulness it forces on you; many a high ends worse than many an ailment.
Six at the top
Blinded enthusiasm:
but if change comes after completion, there is no blame. The rush has overshot: the faith has become dogma, the party an escape, the movement a cult. Even then there is a way out: waking up, even if only after the sobering, incurs no blame; it is never too late to sober up, only ever more expensive. Do not count the awakening against yourself as defeat. The only real mistake in the blindness is wanting to stay in it.