04 - Youthful Folly

no2DO - eine Annäherung aus Westen

Contemporary Interpretation

04 - Youthful Folly

Gain strength and let go.

We are rooted
In abysses,
On projections.
As our strength increases
We can let go.

[We can let go of those parts of our ancestral heritage which, during our journey, we have already fully integrated into our being and therefore do not need any longer.]

The Changes

yang yin yin yin yang yin

Upper Trigram: Gen, Mountain

2nd Core Character: Kun, Earth

1st Core Character: Zhen, Thunder

Lower Trigram: Kan, Water

Information regarding the interpretation model

Classical Interpretation

Youthful folly (04) means to be first confused and then to become clear.

The image

A source springs up from underneath the mountain: the image of youth. Thus the superior man nourishes his character through thoroughgoing action.

The judgement

Youthful folly has success. I am not seeing the young fool, the young fool seeks me. At the first oracle, I give advice. If he asks two, three times, then that is annoyance. If he annoys, I give no advice. Perseverance furthers. Full text of Richard Wilhelm's 1924 translation by Cary F. Baynes

Dynamics of the Hexagram

The Changes: 04 - youthful folly

Lower Trigram: Kan, the Water

Kan represents our basic trust and our unconscious resources, a distillate of our own - and sometimes third party ... Read more - experiences and information that lie beyond our daily consciousness. Impulses and inspirations emerge from Kan and may trigger decisions or initiate actions. If we follow this gut feeling our actions will have a special quality: they feel a particular way "right". Hide

First Change: Kan → Zhen, the Thunder

Zhen develops when a (broken) yin line is added (dark arrow; yin symbolizes receptivity). Trusting our gut feelings, being open to ... Read more impulses from our unconscious resources creates the primordial seed of a new action, the first step into a new direction. Hide

Second Change: Zhen → Kun, the Earth

Kun develops when a (broken) yin line is added (dark arrow; yin symbolizes receptivity). The clear decision that becomes ... Read more visible in Zhen, falls on fertile grounds. Hide

Third Change: Kun → Gen, the Mountain

During the phase of growth (Kun), while something concrete emerged from unstructured potential, we may have noticed things that are ... Read more unnecessary ballast and block our energies. When Gen evolves from Kun, we can confidingly let go of ballast and entrust ourselves to earth's gravity. This way we not only release muscles and tendons, but our entire being. Hide

Upper Trigram: Gen, the Mountain

Gen stands for our ability to disengage. Through letting go of what has become obsolete we can focus on what is essential, ... Read more concentrate our energies and make room for the new. Disengagement harmonizes and focuses our actions and results in reorientation and new beginnings. Gen invites us to honestly examine our possessions, feelings and/or thoughts regarding their validity, and to permanently let go of what is old or outdated. Hide

Follow the Path of the Dao: A Western Approximation

The interpretations shown above gradually moved away from Eastern concepts. Let us proceed even a little further. In this section I develop a model of interpretation from a Western perspective, more precisely: from the perspective of philosophical anthropology.
A detailed article on the subject can be found here: A Western Approximation

Dem Weg des Dao folgen: Annäherung aus Westen

Exemplary Experiences

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You can help the further development of no2DO by sending me the question you asked the I Ching and its response (the hexagram's name and number). Each hexagram's tendencies open up most clearly when examined in the context of a personal situation.

References and Connotations