Gate 49: The Gate of Principles

A revolution only finds support when people believe it is necessary. That is what this line revolves around. In its exalted expression, you make use of the fact that a principle only holds when others take it on, and you seek the broadest support possible. This is how change becomes lasting. In its weakened expression, it is tempting to create the need for a revolution in the first place by stirring up unrest yourself. Sensitivity to rejection can inflate a principle into a crusade.

When is a break justified? This line sits between the patience to exhaust every peaceful path and the urge to break away right now. In its exalted expression, you dare to make the break only once every peaceful path has demonstrably run out, and then you plan it carefully. In its weakened expression, the urge to overturn things is so strong that negotiating and finding a balance take too long. You are more likely to reach for a sudden coup that hardly anyone backs.

This line is about clearing away outdated forms once the support for doing so is there. What remains open is whether this happens with sensitivity or without regard for others. In its exalted expression, what has outlived its time can be taken down after the obstacles have fallen away, and you let go of failed principles or connections with empathy. In its weakened expression, the old is removed so mercilessly, despite broad support, that the new can end up scarred as well. Rejection then happens without tact.

A change seeks support by putting forward a platform. It holds up when its promises are kept, and it rings hollow when they only sound good. In its exalted expression, a sense for what society needs gives rise to a fair replacement for the old order, because the platform makes a binding commitment to human rights. In its weakened expression, you promise whatever earns applause, but rarely what can actually be carried out.

How do you organize upheaval? By taking practical care of others, or with an eye on power and the chain of command? In its exalted expression, you look after what other people need in a hands-on way while things are being overturned. This can build lasting support and understanding. In its weakened expression, the question of who is in charge takes center stage as things are put in order. Higher principles often get short shrift in the process.

A change wins people over through its effect, and that is how it gains more followers, without any promotion at all. In its exalted expression, an innate receptivity draws in those who are undecided and turns them into firm believers. In its weakened expression, rejection born of oversensitivity easily becomes a stubborn habit, aimed at principles just as much as at people.

This cross is the one that determines which principles and answers it takes to meet a community's needs. It is considered both emotional and willful, because the Design side adds a strong, Individual theme.

With the Sun in Gate 49, the question of food moves to the foreground. This gate is connected to the relationship between humans and the animal world, to sacrifice, and to the origins of religion. Looking back, the question arises whether there is anything that deserves reverence.

People with this cross constantly consider who belongs to their revolution, and they keep looking for allies. In the Right Angle, this comes from need rather than affection. The emotional wave draws them into conflicts again and again, so they often have to justify themselves, and because of the Individual Design side, these explanations often stay hard for others to grasp: the other person walks away without having understood what was meant. This is a revolutionary with few followers, who therefore keeps campaigning for agreement while the others sense that there is little in it for them.

As a Right Angle Cross, it stands for a purpose that concerns your own path. Other people enrich it, but they do not fundamentally redirect it. You grow into it by following your Strategy and Authority; it is not fate.

This Juxtaposition Cross is fixed on principles. The Individual part of the Design side found in the Right Angle Cross falls away, and so does much of the explaining that comes with it. In its place comes the Design Sun in Gate 14, bringing energy and the theme of prosperity, along with a growing realization that any future needs allies.

People on this cross are seen as forerunners who move far ahead of their era. In the teaching, this comes with the image that they often do not live to see their cause succeed, and that history forgets them. Precisely because they are so unbending, they are considered easy to break.

It is the only cross whose purpose is to uphold the protection of human rights. Its image is someone who, while the first factories are being built, already sees the exploitation of workers that is to come.

The Juxtaposition Cross is rare, and it is a fixed path of its own, like a train on its tracks. People who spend a long time with you can be pulled along onto this path. You grow into it; it is neither fate nor a demand.

This Left Angle Cross means revolution in the true sense of the word, and it concerns ownership: those who have should give some up. At its core is the demand that the community have what it needs to live. Principles that let you provide for yourself can also be opened up to others.

Part of this cross is a pull to win others over to principles and to upheaval, almost to seduce them. Pushing through a new principle is only part of the point; your own gain from the upheaval counts just as much.

With a 5th line, the revolution is given a practical grounding. Because this line draws projections, others unload their expectations onto it: if the cross delivers, it can be seen as a hero; if it fails, its reputation can collapse.

As a Left Angle Cross, it is fulfilled in being with others, whose influence can noticeably change your path. You grow into it; it is not a prediction.