Hexagram 20: 觀

Step back. You're too close to see clearly. You need perspective—not the view through the crack in the door, which is what you have now, but the wide view from the tower. Or better: from 3.7 billion miles away, where Earth is 0.12 pixels and everything you're worried about vanishes into the proper scale. Real contemplation isn't idle brooding. It's active examination of effects, patterns, systems. What are you actually accomplishing? Not what you intend—what actually results from your actions? Here's the distinction: you're not contemplating your thoughts about your work. You're contemplating your work's actual impact on the world. Those are different things. The progression through the lines maps to organizational maturity: at first, most people won't understand what you're doing. Boy-like contemplation, the text calls it. Fine for them. Unacceptable for you—you need to see the connected whole. Then self-examination: does what you're building actually align with your principles? Does it merit your continued investment of time, capital, attention? Only then are you ready to exert real influence, be the example others look up to. The final stage—sage standing outside affairs, liberated from ego—that's probably not your immediate goal. But understanding it provides context. Some decisions aren't about career advancement or project success. They're about aligning with laws larger than personal ambition. Contemplate those too.