After Completion
Every Line in Place
An order so complete it can only decline: guard a finished thing rather than rest in it.
Hexagram 63 sets Kan, water, above Li, fire: the kettle over the flame, two forces brought into working relation. It is the only figure of the sixty-four in which every line occupies its correct place, firm lines in the odd positions and yielding lines in the even, so that the order of the whole is complete. The Judgement warns of precisely this, giving success in small matters, good fortune at the beginning and disorder at the end, since a condition that can no longer be improved can only decline. The Image has the superior man take thought of misfortune and arm himself against it in advance.
Light
Signifies order attained, work brought to a proper close, and equilibrium between opposed forces. It stands for the vigilance that guards a finished thing rather than resting in it.
Shadow
Can indicate complacency after success, stagnation, and the slow decay that follows a peak. An arrangement admitting no further improvement has nowhere left to go but into disorder.
