The hexagram means "repetition of danger" and the image of a ravine is used to symbolise this danger.  It indicates a situation in which a man is in the same pass as the water in a ravine, and like the water, he can escape if he follows its example.

Water flows on and on and fills up all the places through which it passes, never shrinking from danger nor any plunge.  The water does not lose its essential nature, remaining true to itself regardless of conditions.  In danger the facts must be faced and the courage found to undertake all that has to be done, thoroughly, and then to move forward in order not to perish through tarrying in danger.

The hexagram suggests that goodness should be an established attribute of character rather than an accidental and isolated occurrence.