47. K'un / Exhaustion
(Lake above Water)
Description
A Dead Sea, its Waters spent eons ago, more deadly than the desert surrounding it:
The Superior Person will stake his life and fortune on what he deeply believes.
Triumph belongs to those who endure.
Trial and tribulation can hone exceptional character to a razor edge that slices deftly through every challenge.
Action prevails where words will fail.
Analysis
This is the realm of the Shaman.
You have exhausted every alternative, spent yourself completely, taxed body and mind beyond your former limits.
Survival and salvation lie beyond your reach now.
Only transcendence to a new existence -- a higher plane of being -- will see you through.
The Old You is just a dry husk.
You can't return to it.
Metamorphosis is the only grace offered.
You can only return to your homeland as a New You.
Changing Lines
Line 1
He rests beneath a dead tree, trying to make sense of this dark, desolate valley he has strayed into.
These lost wanderings will last three years.
Line 2
Chained to the banquet table, a prisoner of his own rich tastes.
He offers prayer and sacrifice for delivery from desire.
When even the desire to be delivered has been cleansed, his prayers will have been answered.
Line 3
Hemmed in by stone, with nothing to climb but thorns: a trap of his own making.
Struggling home, he cannot find his wife.
Misfortune.
Line 4
Captive and on display in a golden carriage, he is ashamed of the spectacle he has become.
Such regrets will lead to good fortune.
Line 5
Though his nose and feet will surely be cut off, still he must confront the warlord.
He calmly accepts his fate, and offers prayer and sacrifice.
Line 6
He feels tightly bound by no more than a few vines of ivy.
If he firmly resolves to break free, he will find he was held back by only his own guilt and fear.