革 → 未濟

Commentary

Fire within the lake transforms into fire above water — Before Completion, where everything is still in transit and nothing has settled. One gazes about from a high terrace, heart constantly longing to flee. Jia Xin is ugly and repulsive; the wife cannot abide her husband. The verse ends the hexagram 49 cycle on a note of unfinished revolution: an unhappy marriage, a restless desire to escape, and a figure so repugnant that domestic harmony is impossible. Before Completion is the eternal almost — the fox with its tail still in the water. From Revolution to Before Completion, the final transformation admits that some revolutions never fully resolve. The fire burns above the water, never quite boiling it, and the discontented spouse forever looks for the exit.