Hexagram 30: The Clinging

Flames consume the Palace of Westminster, their orange glow reflected in the black Thames as crowds gather on the riverbank. J.M.W. Turner witnessed this 1834 fire and painted multiple versions, capturing how light clings to darkness—the burning buildings illuminate the night sky, flames mirrored in water below, fire and reflection inseparable. The composition doubles illumination: actual conflagration above, its image below, neither existing independently. The crowd stands mesmerized, held by the spectacle of destruction made visible through its own light.

This is Li (離), the Clinging—Fire (Li) doubled, clarity depending on what it consumes. The character depicts a bird clinging to something, emphasizing attachment and dependency. Ancient diviners saw this hexagram as fire needing fuel, light requiring darkness to be perceived, clarity that cannot exist alone. Turner's flames embody this paradox: the fire reveals the palace's architecture in brilliant detail even as it destroys the structure. Each element clings to its opposite—light to dark, revelation to consumption, illumination to annihilation. The painting itself clings to that October night, preserving the event through pigment attached to canvas.

{artwork_reasoning}

The Judgment text states: "It furthers one to be persevering. Success. Care for the cow brings good fortune." The cow image suggests docility and nourishment—fire must be tended carefully, fed regularly, or it either dies or rages destructively. Song Dynasty commentary notes that clarity requires constant maintenance; insights fade without sustained attention, understanding dims without ongoing cultivation. Turner's fire burns uncontrolled, magnificent and terrible, showing what happens when the clinging element escapes proper tending. The palace—seat of British parliamentary power—burns because fire spread beyond its hearth. The painting warns and dazzles simultaneously.

The Image Text counsels: "Brightness rises twice. The great person perpetuates the light by illuminating the four quarters." Doubled fire suggests light sustaining itself through succession—one flame lighting the next, clarity passed forward through teaching and transmission. Turner painted this scene but also trained his eye through decades of studying light's behavior. In the I-Ching's sequence, the Clinging follows the Abysmal: after water's formless danger (29), fire's form-giving clarity (30) emerges. But clarity demands attachment—to fuel, to substance, to what it illuminates. The Thames mirrors the burning parliament, light clinging to water's surface, each visible only through the other's presence.