I'm curious how the I Ching figures into our spirituality. By spirituality, I mean our sense of the spirit, the divine, a transcendent purpose and principle in our lives. What principles (ethical, spiritual) do you see reflected by the I Ching? Are these principles practical for your life? and how does the oracle contribute to your experience of spirituality or not?
How I see it: the oracle mirrors back certain paradigmatic life situations or sets of circumstances and probabilities. These are the "changes" in life. Then we may put ourself in accord with the Tao/Dao -- the way, the smooth and easeful course -- by making use of the oracle to point us to our own intuition and guidance.
We will always be happiest -- such is my understanding -- if we follow the Way which is a constant amidst change and which is the path of non-resistance (perhaps) or the way harmonious with our own higher good (or am I moralizing unduly?).
For instance, if we are in a time of Abundance (Hexagram 14), we are confronted with certain challenges and responsibilities that the I Ching mirrors back to us. If we are at a time of stagnation, other kinds of actions will be of benefit.
And we can learn about how to handle power, politics, success, misfortune -- for the sake of our ultimate benefit and for staying in touch with the Tao -- by consulting the I Ching.
I say this in principle. It's like a book of Wisdom. But I don't always receive the wisdom easily, in fact. I usually consult the oracle during times of stress and I'm not always calm and philosophical -- but instead reactive -- in my approach.
I'm curious, if anyone would like to share, how the I Ching influences or not your spirituality and your worldview. Or looking back, how have you changed through your practice with this oracle?

Howdy and welcome.

The very word, Spiritual, is ambiguous. It assumes that there's some scenario aside from the one we see right here. Such may be true, but such may be false. No one can prove either. They may testify of an experience, of the h16 variety, but they won't prove there's much beside this.

For me, and from a super-novice understanding of quantum physics, it offers so many possibilities of what we may be interpreting as "Spiritual". It's like the Flatland model, where a 3-Dimensional world is not perceivable, yet our world proves 3-D is real. Wouldn't that be considered spiritual in Flatland?

What if there are infinite possibilities? 'In my father's house are many dwellings.' for what exists in "Spiritland" (heaven).

We are in the spring of understanding this creation.

The Yi flows through my life. Usually I'm a floating leaf, twirling downstream upon it. And even if I dove off and tried to drown myself, that world won't let me. That's spiritual to me: life and death, and the hope of life again. Is that in the IC? IC provides enough large types, enough to create the world as we know it, using nature's models. That's the clay we're given to work with. But if we are "spiritual", the Spirit never leaves us, even if we dive off the leaf.

if we are "spiritual", the Spirit never leaves us, even if we dive off the leaf

That's an interesting reflection, thanks!

and this one:

life and death, and the hope of life again

I 'm curious how the Yi may open us to the Spirit in our lives.

I agree with you, "what if there are infinite possibilities?"

The "spiritual" has to do with recognizing and tapping into that source of fertile possibility even where a situation seems limited.

The spirit: the infinite is right here -- and it's a source of abundance, that we can trust. As I say that though, it can sound a bit sentimental or just abstract.

In practice with the Yi, does the oracle open up those new possibilities for us?

thanks for our reply.

loverofknowledge said:

The "spiritual" has to do with recognizing and tapping into that source of fertile possibility even where a situation seems limited.

Click to expand...

That's as good a definition as I've heard, especially where a situation seems limited. Sometimes it seems that's the whole point of life: resistance and release.

"In practice with the Yi, does the oracle open up those new possibilities for us?"

Yes, a unique look and direct experience with the nature of change, and a more direct pathway to our psyche, and possibly to Consciousness itself.

Hi there,

I think the I Ching can be tremendously helpful in our spiritual search but the extent of that help is not governed by the I Ching's limitations but by our own, by our degree of spiritual maturity and spiritual responsibility. But our spiritual status is of little importance compared with the everyday tasks of discerning truth and mastering the self, and in giving penetrating insight into these tasks the I Ching can be invaluable. It can give valuable guidance on when we are ignoring aspects of self that harm others and ourself, on when we are not facing up to the shadow-self. It won't take you on a transcendent trip to LaLa Land, it will guide you unerringly through the nuts and bolts of selfless application, and gradually spiritual truth will emerge within.

Peter

You could reinterpret the Yi to suit your ideas of spirit or spirituality, but you should recognize that as a reinterpretation. The Yi has little to say on the matter, although it does frequently talk about human attitudes as they go about their various religious activities. Ultimately, though, the Yi is not a spiritual book in the Western sense of the term. The metaphysics just aren't there. It's just more about the psychology of living correctly. Later, though, when Chinese folk religion and superstition started to merge with popularized Yijing, you started to see words like hun, po, ling, gui and shen, all parts of the folk anatomy of the Chinese spirit.

Having this distinction of what is spiritual or psychological, I don't need to choose, or at least I don't think I do. But the distinctions remain.

Someone might get the impression that I don't have a spirit-life that I acknowledge. To me, those are a personal, intimate dynamic between my psyche and God, if they're not one and the same. There are aspects of ones psyche we are not familiar with. The 'final frontier' isn't in space nor on the sea's sandy floor, but within ourselves. I wouldn't call that a spiritual belief though, more to know and be known. But since every grain of sand is known, so am I. That's a belief based on reasoning.

Hi all, thanks for these articulate and thoughtful remarks.
Really, what I mean by "spiritual" is just:
The "spiritual" has to do with recognizing and tapping into that source of fertile possibility even where a situation seems limited.
As Sooo excellently puts it: a direct experience with the nature of change -- where change indicates possibility if we optimize our awareness
and as Peter says: it's not about a transcendental La La land but instead facing up to the shadow self and the nuts and bolts of selfless application
I am understanding spirituality in some way as about optimizing human potential or just facing the truth which sets us free.
So I see what Bradford means that the I Ching is more about the psychology of living correctly than about a spiritual system though
I myself do not make the typical assumptions about Western spirituality (what are those assumptions?). The term can be very shifty and slippery and vague. I mean it mostly in the sense I say above.
Sooo you say, The 'final frontier' isn't in space nor on the sea's sandy floor, but within ourselves. I guess I see it: there's some depth of ourselves that resonates with the inner truth of each situation and the oracle helps us to harmonize self and situation.
Thanks all.

LOK, I opened a similar thread not long ago, in case you didn't notice. http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/friends/showthread.php?16870-Spiritual

I'm surprised that more people don't respond to threads about Spiritual since so many people here are not timid to use the word.