Retreat: success. In what is small, perseverance furthers. The dark power rises from below; the light withdraws — not in flight but in order, to a distance from which it cannot be harmed. Retreat here is a strategy of strength: the timely, dignified stepping back that preserves force for the counter-movement already implicit in it.
Mountain under heaven: the superior person keeps the inferior at a distance — not angrily, but with reserve. The mountain rises only so far; heaven withdraws beyond its reach. Distance, kept with dignity, is protection without war.
The moment favours strategic withdrawal — from a fight you cannot win now, a negotiation turning hostile, an environment where lesser motives are ascending. Retreat while retreat is still your choice, and conduct it like an art: orderly, unhurried, without bitterness and without burning bridges you may recross. Keep inner distance from what you cannot outwardly avoid; reserve is armour. This is not defeat — in the I Ching's arithmetic, the well-timed retreat is the first move of the eventual return.
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