The I Ching is a living entity

[Lifeischange]

The way this answered my question was so clear and true it was amazing.

 

[Light cookie]

Oh yes, this is what I have experienced too... I think that it's because our present time is so tangled in an atomic energy thing where everything is connected, past, present, future, our thoughts, even our unconscious thoughts... And when we trust all this process and we make our question with clarity and from the deep of our hearts, we enter this "web" to which we belong and Iching answers fit perfectly.

 

[dfreed]

The way this answered my question was so clear and true it was amazing.

When you say 'this' answered your question, I assume you are talking about how the I Ching answered your question, is that right? We often talk about the Yi as if it's a living, breathing entity, human or otherwise. We ask 'it' questions, and 'it' responds; it 'speaks to us'.

Another perspective is that the Yijing is just a book with pages, words, figures, etc. and not a separate entity, and that 'this' - the act of divination, of using an oracle like the Yi - is a means to an end: it is never Yijing that speaks; one only uses the Yijing to talk to oneself. The book itself is incapable of speaking. It is a tool for creating resonance with what? The natural world , this 'web' (I like that) or the universe? I'm not sure.

"Yi has no thought, no action. It is inert and motionless". From Wing 5 – Dazhuan, the Great Treatise.


Best, D

 

[hilary]

Completing the quotation:

'Yi has no thought, no action. It is inert and motionless; but when activated it penetrates every cause under heaven. If Yi did not reach every spirit under heaven, what else could do so?'

When it sits on the shelf, it's just a book, and books can't talk. When consulted, it's an oracle, and then things get interesting.

 

[dfreed]

When consulted, it's an oracle, and then things get interesting.

Which then leads us to the never-ending question, what is an oracle? It seems that in some respects it's still a book with pages .... but?

 

[hilary]

Which then leads us to the never-ending question, what is an oracle? It seems that in some respects it's still a book with pages .... but?

Never-ending, indeed. Any definition of an oracle I could muster would start by saying it's a living entity, and so I've described a perfect circle.

 

[dfreed]

Any definition of an oracle I could muster would start by saying it's a living entity, and so I've described a perfect circle.

I don't necessarily disagree. I'd only say that when people talk about the Yi being an 'entity' it seems to be a bit of a slippery slope (for me) to calling the Yi - or it's voice - that of God, or Christ, or the (undefined) Ancestors, etc. ....

Another, unprecise definition that I can muster - and which works for me - is that the act of divination creates a resonance between ourselves (via our utterances, questions, queries) and the greater world or universe, ... and we then get to translate or interpret what that resonance sounds like - a.k.a. what the (possible) entity the Yi is 'saying to us'.

And what is this 'perfect circle' of which you speak?

Best, D.

 

[hilary]

I don't necessarily disagree. I'd only say that when people talk about the Yi being an 'entity' it seems to be a bit of a slippery slope (for me) to calling the Yi - or it's voice - that of God, or Christ, or the (undefined) Ancestors, etc. ....

I'm happy to pitch my tent somewhere on that slope. I won't mind if slides a bit.

Another, unprecise definition that I can muster - and which works for me - is that the act of divination creates a resonance between ourselves (via our utterances, questions, queries) and the greater world or universe, ... and we then get to translate or interpret what that resonance sounds like - a.k.a. what the (possible) entity the Yi is 'saying to us'.

That works, too.

And what is this 'perfect circle' of which you speak?

Best, D.

See the thread title: I'm referring to my own perfectly circular logic. 'The I Ching is a living entity because it's an oracle, which is a living entity.'