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The other day I was reading David Hinton's Classical Chinese Poetry. This is only incidental in that it suggests the frame of mind I was in at the time. As I was reading, an image from my childhood came to mind. It was that of being on a lake in the early morning at the base of a large stone cliff, fishing with my father. This was an actual memory. Now, it has been many years since I have even thought about that location and fishing but the image was clear and strong. It then occured to me to look up the hexagram where Gen (mountain) is above and Dui (lake) is below; hexagram 41, to see what it had to say about this image. In reading about Sun, special emphasis is placed on Sincerity. Consultiing severaI Chings confirmed this emphasis but not in all cases. Sincerity seems to be pivotal to understanding Decrease in favorable terms. My question has to do with the origin of the notion of sincerity. Does it come from the lower trigram, Dui? Is there some special significance to sincerity, perhaps cultural, that neeeds to be understood? Can sincerity be thought of more like humility, which also seems appropriate to understanding this hexagram? To be clear, this hexagram was not the result of a casting but occurred to me during a reflective moment of the day. I would appreciate any insights on this hexagram.