Hexagram 31
Influence
咸Xián
☱ Lake above, ☶ Mountain below
A lake rests on the mountain's summit, possible only because that summit keeps itself hollow: thus receptivity becomes the power by which two beings truly touch each other.
The JudgmentInfluence: success. Perseverance brings reward; taking a maiden as wife brings good fortune. Mutual attraction, here that of the youngest son and the youngest daughter, is the strongest force in the world: where the strong places itself beneath the gentle, the bond that carries comes into being.
The ImageOn the mountain, a lake: the image of influence. Thus the noble one, through his readiness to receive, lets people draw near to him. The mountain carries the lake by being empty at the top: only what keeps space within itself can be filled. Those who are full of themselves can be neither touched nor approached.
InterpretationThe second half of the book, the half of human relationships, opens with this sign, and it begins at the beginning: attraction. Something or someone touches you, and you touch back: a love, a friendship, an idea, a calling. It appears when that mutual working is at play and asks how you handle it: open enough to be truly touched, free enough not to be swept away. The art is the empty summit of the mountain: staying receptive without losing yourself, inviting without grasping. Influence that works this way forces nothing and reaches everything; people come of their own accord to those who can truly receive.
Place in the sequenceAfter 30, The Clinging, the book opens its second part. The sequence begins again with heaven and earth: from all beings come man and woman, and with them mutual attraction. It forms a pair with 32 · Duration.
Nuclear hexagram
The nuclear hexagram of Influence is 44 · Coming to Meet: Coming to Meet: what presents itself as small and winning carries the seed of dominion; saying no costs almost nothing on the first day. 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
The influence shows itself in the big toe.
The very first movement: an inclination, a slight pull in a direction, before anything has happened. No one sees it, and nothing needs to happen yet: let it ripen. Not every first shiver is a decision; most may simply exist for a while. Register what pulls at you, and wait to see whether it returns: real attraction repeats itself, false attraction evaporates.
Six in the second place
The influence shows itself in the calves:
misfortune; staying brings good fortune. The calves are already tensing to run while the heart has not yet chosen: the body wants to get ahead of the choice. Letting yourself be pulled along like that is chasing an impulse that is not your own. Stand still until the movement comes from within instead of from the tension of the moment. Waiting here is not hesitation but sovereignty: you decide when you leave.
Nine in the third place
The influence shows itself in the thighs:
it clings to what follows; continuing is humiliating. The thighs run along with everything that moves: every stimulus, every invitation, every mood of others. Live like that and you become the errand boy of your surroundings, losing your dignity step by step. Not every impulse deserves a response, not every summons an answer. Being selective about what you respond to is not coldness; it is self-possession.
Nine in the fourth placeruling line
Perseverance brings good fortune, remorse vanishes.
When someone is inwardly moved and his thinking goes back and forth, only the friends toward whom he directs his conscious thoughts will follow. This is the influence of the heart: keep it pure, and it works on everyone by itself. But start calculating and aiming (whom must I influence, what does it yield), and your influence shrinks to the small circle you consciously work on. True radiance is not a technique; keep your heart upright and let the working go, and it reaches further than any plan.
Nine in the fifth placeruling line
The influence shows itself in the neck:
no remorse. The neck is the will: firm, straight, unshakable. No remorse here, for this steadfastness is real. But the line also whispers a limit: what stands so firm is no longer moved itself, and what cannot be moved can no longer be touched. Check now and then whether your convictions still have joints; a will without suppleness is a neck that can no longer look back.
Six at the top
The influence shows itself in the jaws, cheeks, and tongue.
The lowest form of influence: talking. Words with no heart behind them, charm without substance, persuasiveness as a box of tricks: it truly moves no one, at most for a moment. If you notice that your influence now comes mainly from your mouth, that is the sign to return to the source: first be something again, then say something again. The tongue is the tip of influence, never its root.