Possession in Great Measure in Spirit

The abundance here is not chiefly material. In its deepest reading it is the inner independence won when thoughts, actions, and attitudes have been purified until your influence carries far, like light from a high place. The one yielding line rules this hexagram and all the strong lines serve it: great possession is administered by modesty, or it is lost. The image assigns your abundance its work — restrain what is harmful, further what is good. Spiritual wealth is a commission, not a trophy; graciousness, generosity, and unselfconscious dignity are the possessors that keep possession. Remember that nothing is harder to survive than success, and this hexagram's supreme fortune is reserved for those who hold it lightly.

While the gift is new (line 1), stay humble and alert to the negative influences abundance draws — joy grasped at is joy lost, while joy received and released makes room for more. Line 3 sets the real test: can your abundance be given? Dedicating it to what is above — the common good, the forces of good themselves — is not loss but enlargement, releasing the ego's limits and opening a higher understanding. Line 4 warns off rivalry: standing near others of great gift, decline the contest and walk your own path, for the one who does not compete cannot be defeated. And line 5 names the character abundance requires — sincerity that is accessible yet dignified, warmth that cannot be presumed upon.