Hexagram 49
Revolution
革Gé
☱ Lake above, ☲ Fire below
Fire flares up within the lake, and because flame and water cannot tolerate each other, one of the two must yield: thus these two together call forth revolution.
The JudgmentRevolution: on your own day you are believed. Exalted success, favorable through perseverance; remorse vanishes. Change is accepted only when its time has come and its necessity is visible: those who act on the right day need to convince no one.
The ImageFire in the lake: the image of revolution. Thus the noble one orders the reckoning of time and brings clarity to the seasons. Fire within water: two forces that fight each other, as old and new fight each other in every revolution. The task of those who lead is to read change like a calendar: to name which season is dying and which is beginning, so that no one keeps sowing in the wrong time.
InterpretationJust as an animal sheds its skin because the old one no longer fits, so a justified revolution is change out of necessity, not out of whim. It appears at changes of course, reorganizations and life-altering turns that are truly needed, and it gives the conditions under which they succeed. Timing: not before your own day (no one will believe you then) and not after it (by then the decay has gone too far). Clarity: the why must fit into a single sentence, otherwise it is not revolution but unrest. And purity of motive: revolutions born of wounded pride repeat what they fight. Test those three, and if all three hold true: then act with full conviction, for then remorse vanishes by itself.
Place in the sequenceA well calls for regular maintenance: the mud must be cleared out, the walls repaired. Therefore hexagram 48, The Well, is followed by revolution: whatever wants to nourish lastingly must renew itself from time to time. It forms a pair with 50 · The Caldron.
Nuclear hexagram
The nuclear hexagram of Revolution 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.
Nine at the beginning
You are wrapped in the hide of a yellow cow.
Do not move yet: the time has not come, so you bind yourself with the toughest material there is, the leather of measure and the middle. Change that comes too early spoils its own cause for years; the art of the revolutionary is being able to wait without going slack. Use the waiting time to build: arguments, allies, proof. Hold yourself back now, and soon there will be no holding you.
Six in the second place
On your own day you may bring about revolution:
going forward brings good fortune, no blame. The day has come: the necessity is visible, the support is present, the preparation is complete. Act now, with the thoroughness the preparation deserves. Change at the ripe moment meets hardly any resistance because everyone already felt it coming; the art is to recognize the moment and then hesitate no longer. Doubt was useful yesterday; today it is a betrayal of the work.
Nine in the third place
Going forward brings misfortune, perseverance brings danger.
When revolution has been spoken of three times, one may entrust oneself to it. Between too early and too late lies the test of the three rounds: only when the call for change has returned three times, from different mouths and after real contradiction, is it ripe. Not every discontent is worth a revolution; most are mood. Let the cause prove itself three times, and then trust it completely. To leap sooner is to leap on rumors; to leap later is too late.
Nine in the fourth place
Remorse vanishes; you are believed.
Changing the form of government brings good fortune. The great change itself: no longer planing away at the form but replacing the form. That is permitted only on authority that runs deeper than position: people believe you because your motives are visibly pure and your story matches your conduct. If that belief is there, even the foundation may go; if it is missing, the finest reform will be called a power grab. Build the belief first, then the new house.
Nine in the fifth placeruling line
The great man changes like a tiger:
even before he consults the oracle, he is believed. Revolution at its finest: so clear in its markings that no one needs an explanation. The stripes of the tiger can be read from afar: everyone sees what the change is, why it comes and where it is going. Strive for that: a change that explains itself, in deeds and in form. Such a change no longer needs to ask permission; the power to convince lies in the pattern itself.
Six at the top
The noble one changes like a panther; the lesser man molts only in the face.
Going forward brings misfortune, remaining in perseverance brings good fortune. After the great turn comes the fine work: the noble one draws in the details like a panther its spots, and the followers adapt outwardly, nothing more. Demand no more than that: those who move along superficially are at least moving along, and inner change comes with the years or never. Above all, start no second revolution because the first does not feel deep enough; let what has been achieved rest, ripen and become ordinary. Rest is now the most revolutionary thing there is.