Hexagram 23: 剝

The project is failing. Or the relationship is ending. Or the technology is obsolete. The market has moved on. You can feel it—foundation splitting, structure unsound, and no amount of effort will reverse the decay. Here's what the text knows: it's not your doing. It's time conditions. This isn't personal failure. It's natural cycle. Yin and yang alternate. What rises must fall. The question isn't whether to prevent the split—you can't—but how to behave during the splitting. Wrong response: stubborn perseverance, acting as if force of will can counter time itself. This leads to greater loss. You'll be destroyed with the collapsing structure. Right response: docility and devotion, stillness. Accept what's happening. Don't recoil from it, but don't fight it either. Submit and wait. The lines show the progression: first the subordinate positions fail. Junior developers leave. Then the danger approaches you directly—your own position becomes untenable. Then you must split with the failing system even if that brings opposition. By line four, disaster is unavoidable. But line five offers nuance: if you lack power alone, able helpers can enable graceful reform if not new beginning. That's praiseworthy. Damage control. Managed sunset. Orderly transition. Line six is for rare individuals—those developed enough to withdraw entirely, refusing to mingle in worldly affairs, setting themselves higher goals. Most of us aren't there. But understanding that this option exists, that sometimes the right move is complete withdrawal to create incomparable future value, that's valuable context. Let it split. The seed of good remains. Focus on what comes after.