Hexagram 30 of 64 · King Wen sequence

Clinging

离 · lí

Above: Fire
Below: Fire

Fire doubled: brightness on brightness — clarity, attachment, and the light that needs something to burn on.

Fire twice: brightness rising on brightness, and — the text is clear about fire — it must have something to burn on to stay alive. Clinging is the hexagram of clarity and its dependencies: light is real, illuminating, and never self-fuelling.

The counsel is to attach your brightness to what deserves it: care for the cow that is brought to you (the steady duty), and let the crescent light of what is beginning grow twice. Clarity without fuel goes out; clarity with the right fuel spreads far.

Questions this hexagram asks

What is my fuel right now — and is it worthy of my light?
Where am I shining without anything to burn on?
What beginning, small as a crescent, deserves tending twice?

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