I love the way the I Ching finds its way into the heart of the modern world. I’m just deeply tickled to see our beloved 3,000-year-old oracle appearing as the I Ching for iPhone, or the Oracle watch. Whoever thought of calling this the ‘Book of Changes’ was really onto something. (Though it’s sort-of funny that the iPhone app, that acme of modernity, uses a translation from 1882.)
I like these two because they let people take the oracle with them, right at the heart of their ordinary, everyday experience. There’s something especially apt about the I Ching watch, giving you qualitative as well as quantitative answers to, ‘What time is it?’
Of course, most people, most of the time are going to regard these things as a gimmick, pay them no particular attention, and get the results you’d expect. But once in a while, someone is going to shake the virtual coins or click the ‘button of the passing to the predicting regime’ and have that moment of realisation I had with three coins and a disintegrating second-hand Legge translation: this is speaking to me.
No surprise there; Legge’s translation is terse, dry, very literal, not all that bad, and FREE TO USE. Now, it Wilhelm’s became public domain…
this watch is not really available, it is more of a concept….. pretty cool though…. wonder how it would handle changing lines…..?
I was afraid it might not be available… there are people linking to it all over the shop, but no-one seemed to have a purchase link. Ah well. Maybe next Christmas… 😉