North by Going South
A traveller races his cart north to reach Chu, which lies south. Fine horses, a good driver, plenty of coin. Strength pointed wrong is just speed into the wall.
The better his horses, the further he gets from where he's going.
The cart passed them going north so fast it threw grit, and the man driving it was the happiest man on the road.
Good horses — better than anything the pair had ever walked behind — a tight new harness, a driver who knew his trade, a purse that chinked. He slowed only to ask, grinning, how far to the next well, and Dog, being friendly, asked him where he was bound. Chu, the man said. South to Chu, to make his fortune. And shook his reins and went on. North.
Dog jogged a few steps after him. "Chu's behind you," he called. "South. You're driving north—" The man laughed without turning. My horses are the best in three counties, he called back, and was gone over the rise, north, toward the steppe and the cold and no Chu at all, ever.
"He'll work it out at the river," Dog said, coming back. "When it's the wrong river."
"He'll blame the river." The Wu watched the dust settle to the north. "A man like that — everything is right but the one thing. Good horse, good wheel, good coin, good arm, and every one of them only carries him faster from the place he swears he's going. Strength is just speed, boy. It doesn't know which way it's pointed. That's the rider's whole job, and it's the one thing he was too well-equipped to stop and check."
She did not say the rest, which was that she had been thinking it about herself since the spring. She had a strong back still, a sharp eye, a name that opened gates, and a boy she would cross a war to keep — and she had not once, lately, halted the cart to be sure the war she was crossing ran toward Chu and not away from it. She clicked her tongue and they walked on, south, slowly, which was at least a direction she had chosen on purpose.
The history. From the Zhanguoce. A counselor told the King of Wei: on the road I met a man driving his cart north who said he was going to Chu — which lies south. I told him he had it backwards. He said his horses were excellent. I said that is not the point; this is not the road. He said he had plenty of money, and a fine driver. And the better all of these, the farther he would get from Chu (南辕北辙, “the shafts pointed south, the tracks running north”). The counselor's point: Wei meant to attack a neighbor to build its name as protector of the states — driving north to arrive in the south.
The figure. ䷏ Enthusiasm (Yu) · line 6 — Deluded enthusiasm. But if it changes after completion, no blame. Enthusiasm based on illusion—yet if realization comes after the action, no blame remains. You can learn from completed mistakes.
The reading. Strength pointed wrong is just speed into the wall. A well-equipped, happy man drives cheerfully away from the place he means to reach and refuses correction because his means are so good — and the Wu, watching, hears the question in it about her own road, and chooses her direction on purpose.
Source: Zhanguoce · State of Wei (魏) · Hexagram ䷏ Enthusiasm · line 6
Illustrated & divined by Digital Rain Studios.