It Ends with “Not Yet”

That unfinished thing on your desk: are you rushing to close it, or easing off just short of the bank?

Original

物不可窮也，故受之以未濟，終焉。未濟：亨。小狐汔濟，濡其尾，无攸利。象曰：火在水上，未濟；君子以慎辨物居方。上九：有孚于飲酒，无咎；濡其首，有孚失是。象曰：飲酒濡首，亦不知節也。

In plain words

Things can never be exhausted, so Not Yet Across follows, and with it the sequence ends. Not Yet Across: success. The little fox, nearly over, wets its tail; nothing is favourable. The Image says: fire above water: Not Yet Across. The noble person, seeing this, carefully tells things apart and sets each in its place. Line 6: drinking wine in good faith, no blame; but soak your head, and good faith loses its way. The Image says: drinking until the head is soaked is not knowing limits.

Key words

濟jìTo ford a river. Jiji: already across; Weiji: not yet across.
汔qìAlmost, all but.
節jiéMeasure, restraint: the last reminder in the whole book.

Reading it step by step

On the last page a crane called in the shade and its young one answered. At page 29, these pages are nearly at the far bank too. Fittingly, the last of the sixty-four hexagrams is called Weiji: Not Yet Across.

First: the I Ching deliberately stops at “not yet.” Hexagram 63 is Jiji, Already Across. Ending there would seem tidiest. But the Sequence of the Hexagrams says: things can never be exhausted, so Not Yet Across follows, and there it ends. If something is finished, it must begin again; if it isn't, there is still a road. The judgment opens with “success” for exactly that reason: because you know you haven't crossed, you look for a way to cross. Page 27 said “when one thing ends, another begins.” Here the whole book ends that way.

Second: the danger usually comes near the bank. “The little fox, nearly over, wets its tail.” Little means inexperienced; nearly means almost there. Many things fail not at the start but in the last few steps: the final exam question, the last week of a renovation, the last kilometre of a race. Look also at the shape. In Weiji not one line is in its proper place: every solid line sits in a yin position, every broken line in a yang one. Yet every line has a partner: 1 with 4, 2 with 5, 3 with 6. When nobody is in the right seat, what holds things together is how they answer each other.

Jiji · 63

every line in its place

already across: beware of slackening

Weiji · 64

every line out of place, yet all paired

not yet across: carried by partnership

The I Ching stops at “not yet”: every end is a beginning.

Third: the I Ching's last word of advice is “know your limits.” Line 6: drinking in good faith is no fault; soak your head in the wine, and good faith loses its way. The commentary: “this is not knowing limits.” Three hundred and eighty-four lines end on measure. And the Image adds: carefully tell things apart and set each in its place. Fire burns upward, water runs downward; each is useful only where it belongs.

Close to home: a marriage still finding its rhythm, a child still growing, a parent slowly ageing, a plan half done. Each is “not yet across.” There's no need to rush them to a finish. But don't ease off in the last few steps. And when things are good, stop at just enough.

Not yet across, so there is still a road.

One line to carry

Not yet across, so there is still a road.

Try it with your own hands

These pages read twenty-some hexagrams. The rest, with their commentaries and stories from history, are at our sister site, Fifty Stalks, and so is the casting, when you want to ask for yourself.

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Today's question

What in your life is “not yet across”? In the last few steps, where do you need to take special care?

Quick check

None of Weiji's lines is in its proper place. On this page's reading, what holds it together?

Next pageDelight in Heaven, Know Your LotPage 30

IV · Walking with Others — Modesty, fellowship, response, constancy, trust, and a mind at peace

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