The Worlds Of The I Ching

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

—William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5

A tale of two worlds...

The World We Experience...

We live in a world of objective reality. In this world are the day to day things that we see, do and relate to. One thing happens which causes another thing to happen etc. as time marches forward. Reality to us is a myriad of cause and effect relationships from the very large to the very small. Events directly relate to their cause.

The World Within...

There exists within us and among all things a different world which obeys a different set of rules and lives in a different set of circumstances. It is a place where every moment exists everywhere. It is the place from where synchronicity, prescience, astrology and parapsychology spring from. It is the place to which we are connected by the shaman when he dances in full regalia. This is where everything connected by a common moment, past present and future, are connected to each other. It is the numinous and of that we are informed by the I Ching.

The numinous is everywhere yet it is nowhere. It exists and it does not exist. It is expressed in terms such as Dao and Heaven. It is similar to the 4-D block universe of physics although any connection between them would have to be considered fanciful, and to parts of Buddhist philosophy where all things, all times and all places exist at once.

A bridge between them...

Connecting objective reality and the numinous...

The two worlds of objective reality and the numinous do not exist apart. They can be bridged by means such as the I Ching. Other methods exist as well such as the Tarot, prayer and ritual. What's required is a mind of contemplative quietude. When casting the I Ching, you must become absorbed into the process. You can't read it like a road sign. One must open the gate for it to enter.

These realities are not static by any means. Everything within and around us exists in a state of change. The I Ching describes one's best outlook and conduct for the situation at hand and the changes ahead. By paying attention to what it tells you, you can find your way from here to there in the best possible fashion.

Foundations of the I Ching...

The I Ching does not exist alone. In late bronze age China, there was a flowering of spiritual development. From this bedrock of Chinese philosophy, cosmology and spiritualism came The Dao, The Trigrams, The I Ching, Chinese Astrology, Feng Shui, Tai Chi etc.; from these roots rose the whole pantheon of Chinese Spiritual thought and practice.

At the root of the I Ching as well as others mentioned above, lay the Trigrams. Seemingly simple on the outside, they contain a rich bounty of wisdom and interconnectedness that provides the framework for the higher studies. The book excerpts which this website is presenting as they arrive, will dive deeply into the Trigrams, the Hexagrams, the lines of which they are composed and the relationships that evolve as the I Ching describes the change that happens to us all.