Fatal Overreaching

You do not meet it, you pass it by. The flying birds scatter and are trapped. Trap! The Way closes. This is called a disaster and a blunder. You overreach yourself, flying higher and higher, a disaster from within and without. Change now. You must let go of the sorrows that impel this flight. Help and nourish others. Make no mistake, if you fly away all your connections to life will vanish. If you can disperse this old identity you will be able to articulate a new time. You are connected to a creative force.

上六, 弗遇過之, 飛鳥離之, 凶, 是謂災眚.

He passes him by, not meeting him. ##### Comments The flying bird leaves him. Misfortune. This means bad luck and injury. If one overshoots the goal, one cannot hit it. If a bird will not come to its nest but flies higher and higher, it eventually falls into the hunter's net. He who in times of extraordinary salience of small things does not know how to call a halt, but restlessly seeks to press on and on, draws upon himself misfortune at the hands of gods and men, because he deviates from the order of nature.