Humiliation

Humiliation (Chinese lin) is the second of the lesser verdicts, the darker twin of Remorse. Where remorse turns a person back toward the good, humiliation marks a slow drift the wrong way — the loss of face and standing that follows persistence in an unfit course. The oracle states it in warnings such as "To go on brings humiliation."

In the Great Treatise, remorse and humiliation together are the images of "sorrow and forethought," the early signals that precede outright loss. Humiliation is thus a graver sign than remorse: it shows a fault not yet corrected, tending toward Misfortune if the direction is not reversed. The Book of Changes announces it in advance for exactly this reason — so that, discerning "the seeds of coming events," one may desist in time and so avoid the disgrace of a forced, failing effort.