Theme
Fellowship
Carried by eighteen chapters
In the constellation
Inner TruthThe Superior Man34 The Power of the Great39 Obstruction59 Dispersion03 Difficulty at the Beginning21 Biting Through32 Duration38 Opposition43 Break-through64 Before Completion22 Grace13 Fellowship with Men45 Gathering Together54 The Marrying Maiden55 Abundance08 Holding Together11 Peace26 The Taming Power of the Great61 Inner TruthDevotionThe Mean
Fellowship is the bond of genuine community — union founded not on partisan interest but on shared, open-hearted purpose. It is the title-theme of hexagram 13, FELLOWSHIP WITH MEN, whose Judgment sets the standard of openness: fellowship "in the open" succeeds, while a fellowship of factions and secret aims does not. The kindred hexagram 8, HOLDING TOGETHER, treats the same power as the mutual attraction that binds a community around a center.
Confucius, quoted on the fifth line of hexagram 13, gives the theme its most beautiful expression:
But when two people are at one in the inmost hearts,
They shatter even the strength of iron or of bronze.
And when two people understand each other in their inmost hearts,
Their words are sweet and strong, like the fragrance of orchids.
True fellowship, then, rests on inner truth and reaches beyond the clan to a universal solidarity of the like-minded.
Where the thread runs
- 03 Difficulty at the Beginning
- 08 Holding Together
- 11 Peace
- 13 Fellowship with Men
- 21 Biting Through
- 22 Grace
- 26 The Taming Power of the Great
- 32 Duration
- 34 The Power of the Great
- 38 Opposition
- 39 Obstruction
- 43 Break-through
- 45 Gathering Together
- 54 The Marrying Maiden
- 55 Abundance
- 59 Dispersion
- 61 Inner Truth
- 64 Before Completion