It might seem that if the life force became active in biting through, our troubles would disappear, but the tao is the experience of being restrained by circumstances and there being no alternative. It is natural for identity to try to avoid this, so restraint is imposed by our greater being.

The toes lead our step so if they are hidden we see no way forward. We step with our feet so if they are shackled we cannot go forward. This is no error but intentional restraint.

In these circumstances where we are held fast by our ignoring of the life force no new experience comes to us and we use what we already have.

Old experience that we have in our identity memory is like old dried meat; it contains things we did not wish to experience and repressed, and so we come upon these, which is uncomfortable but helpful to our biting through.

We are less involved in feelings of the tao; there is less interference from identity and also less compliance.

Nourishing ourselves on old experience (dried meat) we find the value (gold) of the middle way (yellow), in this case between interfering and complying with the tao; the danger is from being precariously balanced.

As the life force emerges it is met with the acceptance of our inner being (line 6) so there is a harmonious approach.

Continuance in the tao requires that it is accepted, that our always changing circumstances are accepted.

When our feelings follow the life force and when identity accepts the feelings (line 5 is yin here) we have an open response to our circumstances which is entirely flexible.

Our attitudes to our circumstances are built upon the intuitive feelings of this line, so when the feeling is one with the circumstances all approach together.

As this outer activity comes to its end we may be carried forward by the momentum of our investment in it and look around for more activity, but to approach something new we need continually to empty ourselves of the old.

If we always seek advantage we do not know how to deal with the aftermath of activity. We then need to question our attitude.

Being involved in existing outer activity would be the danger in this tao because this would perpetuate our existing directions of growth beyond their peak. Here in this line however we move our attention away from outer activity.

Perfect in the sense of complete, without doubt, and perfectly flexible.

We identify less with feelings of quietness and so prepare for something new.

The great ruler of identity is the way we continually distinguish our circumstances and so follow the tao without becoming captured by any particular stance or mode of being.

The difficulties of this tao concern our tendency to identify with a fixed mode of being. Here in this line we no longer have this difficulty and can fully approach the next, changed, experienced.

An approach that fully gives up the old cycle of an experience is generous and flows readily. Reality only stops flowing when we get involved in its structure.

When the life force is inactive less activity is possible, especially when we are in the tao of obstruction.

Remaining involves being still, being alert, being aware; more being, less doing.

The natural reaction of feeling to troubled times is to become less sensitive; it is an instinctive move to balance sensitivity with aggravating circumstance.

The minister supplies the king with advice and information, as feeling does for identifying. Feeling is suffering under the stress of our circumstances but this is not a fault in the way we feel.

Here we act out to overcome our frustration although there is no path there; our objectives cannot be reached so we will then give up the attempt.

The unflowing state of outer action appears to us to be an obstruction. By becoming less involved in this we can be more aware of what is actually going on around us.

Connecting things together is a state of awareness, not of outer activity; here we try to understand our situation instead of battling against it.

The obstruction is so great that we turn to our intuitive feeling, which we have been ignoring.

Feeling our circumstances helps as a friend would, be relating innerly. Our ignorance of this feeling was part of the obstruction so this improves matters.

The obstruction in this tao is about our not being able to be still nor to act. Here our inner being becomes still, which is helpful.

Remaining is also keeping still and to see the great man is to see widely, not narrowing our view by choice; this is the good fortune.