willow
July 27th, 2002, 07:47 AM
I recently got the Ritsema-Karcher I Ching (the old one, not the reissue/revision I hear is coming up soon), and the beginning of the intro seems to address some of the issues raised 'round Candid's Campfire in "Since there's a lull:" (http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/i_ching_discussion/messages/92/355.html?1027750763).
Most interesting to me is their observation that what we call the "unconscious" (within you) is pretty much what used to be called "gods" or "spirits" (within you and without you).
So, from p.8, Ritsema/Karcher I Ching:
What is the I Ching?
The I Ching offers a way to see into difficult situations, particularly those emotionally charged ones where rational knowledge fails us yet we are called upon to decide and act. It gives a voice to a spirit concerned with how we can best live as individuals in contact with both inner and outer worlds.
The I Ching is able to do this because it is an oracle. It is a particular kind of imaginative space set off for a dialogue with the gods or spirits, the creative basis of experience now called the unconscious. An oracle translates a problem or question brought to it into an image language like that of dreams. It changes the way you experience the situation in order to connect you with the inner forces that are shaping it. The oracle's images dissolve what is blocking the connection, making the spirits available.
This procedure is made for situations where you feel gripped by something behind the ordinary events of life. The I Ching portrays various sorts of crossroads. Its symbols make up a dictionary of the forces that move and change the soul. Working with these images dissolves your view of your situation and reforms awareness of these forces. The goal of this process is an intuitive clarity traditionally called shen ming or the light of the gods. It is a bright spirit that is creative, clear-seeing and connected.
Consulting an oracle and seeing yourself in terms of the symbols or magic spells it presents is a way of contacting what has been repressed in the creation of the modern world. It puts you back into what the ancients called the sea of soul by giving advice on attitudes and actions that lead to the experience of imaginative meaning. Oracular consultation insists on the importance of imagination. It is the heart of magic through which the living world speaks to you. The modern interest in alternative cultures and the old ways is a reflection of our need to recover this heart of magic, for it is the way our inner being speaks, thinks, and acts.
Most interesting to me is their observation that what we call the "unconscious" (within you) is pretty much what used to be called "gods" or "spirits" (within you and without you).
So, from p.8, Ritsema/Karcher I Ching:
What is the I Ching?
The I Ching offers a way to see into difficult situations, particularly those emotionally charged ones where rational knowledge fails us yet we are called upon to decide and act. It gives a voice to a spirit concerned with how we can best live as individuals in contact with both inner and outer worlds.
The I Ching is able to do this because it is an oracle. It is a particular kind of imaginative space set off for a dialogue with the gods or spirits, the creative basis of experience now called the unconscious. An oracle translates a problem or question brought to it into an image language like that of dreams. It changes the way you experience the situation in order to connect you with the inner forces that are shaping it. The oracle's images dissolve what is blocking the connection, making the spirits available.
This procedure is made for situations where you feel gripped by something behind the ordinary events of life. The I Ching portrays various sorts of crossroads. Its symbols make up a dictionary of the forces that move and change the soul. Working with these images dissolves your view of your situation and reforms awareness of these forces. The goal of this process is an intuitive clarity traditionally called shen ming or the light of the gods. It is a bright spirit that is creative, clear-seeing and connected.
Consulting an oracle and seeing yourself in terms of the symbols or magic spells it presents is a way of contacting what has been repressed in the creation of the modern world. It puts you back into what the ancients called the sea of soul by giving advice on attitudes and actions that lead to the experience of imaginative meaning. Oracular consultation insists on the importance of imagination. It is the heart of magic through which the living world speaks to you. The modern interest in alternative cultures and the old ways is a reflection of our need to recover this heart of magic, for it is the way our inner being speaks, thinks, and acts.