Contemplation
The Ablution Before the Offering
The watcher is also watched — authority that instructs by example rather than command.
Contemplation, Guan, places the Gentle, Wind, above the Receptive, Earth: the wind moving over the land and touching everything it passes. The name carries both senses of view, the tower that looks out and the tower that is looked at, so the figure concerns a ruler who surveys the people and is himself the object of their gaze. The judgement fixes a precise moment: the ablution has been made but not yet the offering, the pause of gathered reverence before the sacrifice, when those below look up in full trust. The Image has the kings of old visiting the regions of the world, contemplating the people, and giving them instruction, governing by example rather than by force.
Light
Signifies clear observation, self-examination, and the quiet authority of an example that instructs without command; a moment of reverence in which trust is freely given.
Shadow
Can indicate detachment that never acts, contemplation from too great a height, or a concern with how one appears rather than with what one is.
