Gate 50 · Values

What it is like

You sense what is fair towards others, even when you can't explain it right away, and you take responsibility for the common good. Sometimes you watch over other people's affairs more than anyone asked you to.

When someone close has it

This person feels responsible for making sure everyone around is cared for and keeps to certain rules. Take their boundaries seriously, even if they can't explain them right away.

A question for today

Which rule am I guarding for others today, even though nobody asked me to?

The six lines of gate 50

1. Line 1 · Emptied Vessel

   This line begins by checking what really lies at the bottom of your values. Before taking on anyone else's rules you want to examine them and throw out what has gone stale, like someone turning a cauldron over to clean it. You look for support in knowledge, in example, in something that can be checked. When that ground is missing, it is easy to pour out what was good along with the leftovers.

2. Line 2 · Full Cauldron

   Here values are something you simply have, without effort and without explanation. You know what is not done, and that certainty works like a full vessel that other people's grievances cannot reach. You feel best when you can hold your boundaries in peace and others come of their own accord to ask your view. Sometimes that fullness closes you to the question of whether some boundary needs a fresh look today.

3. Line 3 · Altered Handles

   This line tests values against life. A boundary that was obvious yesterday cannot be lifted or carried today, and it needs a new handle. You discover what is inviolable for you through the situations where something cracked or did not work. When trials follow one after another, it is easy to decide that no principle lasts, although after the rain it usually looks clearer.

4. Line 4 · Shared Table

   Here values live in your relationships with the people you know. Friends and family lean on your principles like a shared table, and it is through them that your boundary has influence. It comes easily to you to take responsibility for what is and is not done in your circle. When you take on more than the legs of that table can carry, something may tip over and the shame falls on everyone at once.

5. Line 5 · Golden Rings

   This line makes others see in you someone who can carry shared values and say what is right. Your boundaries seem practical to them and acceptable to anyone, like handles by which a heavy vessel can be lifted. When a group lacks a principle, eyes turn to you. Sometimes expectations outgrow what you actually know, and then it is easy to defend a boundary nobody entrusted to you.

6. Line 6 · Smooth Jade

   Here values stop being a rule and become a way of living that can be seen from afar. You do not need to lecture anyone, because people watch how you live and learn from it what is not done. Over time your boundary grows hard and smooth like jade, calm and clear. When distance grows too great, it is easy to view other people's choices coldly and lose the warmth that gives values any meaning at all.

The centre of this gate

• Spleen

Channels through gate 50

• 27–50 · Care