The Family
The Ordered Household
A household holds together on what is lived, not what is said; order can outlast the affection in it.
The Family sets Xun, wind, above Li, fire, and the image is read as it stands: wind comes forth from fire, as heat generates the draught that carries it, so influence proceeds outward from what burns at the centre. The second line is yielding and central in the lower trigram and the fifth firm and central in the upper, which the commentary reads as the woman correctly placed within and the man without, each in a proper station; the Judgment says the perseverance of the woman furthers. The Image adds that the superior man's words must have substance and his conduct duration, since a family holds together on what is lived rather than on what is said.
Light
Signifies clear roles honestly kept, authority exercised without harshness, loyalty within a household or an institution, and the influence an ordered centre exerts on everything around it.
Shadow
Can represent rigid hierarchy, duty enforced as constraint, a closed circle that treats the outsider as a stranger, or an order kept up in form after the affection in it has gone.
