If a man has recognised the necessity for union and does not feel strong enough to function as the centre, it is his duty to become a member of some other organic fellowship.
The image
On the earth is water:
The image of holding together (8).
Thus the kings of antiquity
Bestowed the different states as fiefs
And cultivated friendly relations
With the feudal lords.
WATER FILLS UP all the empty places on the earth and clings fast to it. The social organisation of ancient China was based on this principle of the holding together of dependents and rulers. Water flows to unite with water, because all parts of it are subject to the same laws. So too should human society hold together through a community of interests that allows each individual to feel himself a member of a whole. The central power of a social organisation must see to it that every member finds that his true interest lies in holding together with it, as was the case in the paternal relationship between king and vassals in ancient China.



The lines
Six at the beginning [yin at bottom] means:
Hold to him in truth and loyalty;
This is without blame.
Truth, like a full earthen bowl\"
Thus in the end
Good fortune comes from without.
FUNDAMENTAL SINCERITY is the only proper basis for forming relationships. This attitude, symbolised by a full earthen bowl, in which the content is everything and the empty form nothing, shows itself not in clever words but through the strength of what lies within the speaker. This strength is so great that it has power to attract good fortune to itself from without.
Six in the second place means:
Hold to him inwardly.
Perseverance brings good fortune.
If a person responds perseveringly and in the right way to the behests from above that summon him to action, his relations with others are intrinsic and he does not lose himself. But if a man seeks association with others as if he were an obsequious office hunter, he throws himself away. He does not follow the path of the superior man, who never loses his dignity.