The "I Thing"

[Sparhawk]

Something hilarious I found searching the New Yorker Magazine. This was published in January of 1972. I would say that time was the previous high in popularity for the oracle and thus the butt of many jokes and general disdain by the "learned ones." Not much has changed since in that regard, I'm afraid. It does, however, capture and satirizes the general use still given the oracle today...

The I Thing

 

[charly]

Something hilarious ...

Hi, Luis:

Thanks for the scans.

Maybe this «I Thing» goes whit the «It Ching» by Horace Voice & Noah Fence:

The origins of the It Ching are unknown. It was commonly perceived as a "forgotten classic," a messy counterpart to the classic I Ching: perhaps fragments of an early draft, perhaps parody. Confucius rightly regarded it as a "profane" document: a vulgar attempt to divine the Way - the Tao - through the trivial symbology of ordinary, morally impoverished lives.

He allegedly threw what he believed to be the only copy into the spring flood of the Yangtse River, exclaiming, "This It Ching is driving me crazy!" (Legge and Pullet, Hosts and Parasites of the Ancient Kingdoms, Singapore Sling Archives, Vol. 7, Chap. 3, Col. 12). Most sources maintain, however, that Confucius studied it carefully before throwing the scrolls in the Yangtse, and that it long held a place among official documents in the royal library, along with The Book of Changes, The Sacred Scrolls of the Great Transactions, and other classics.
From: «It Ching» by Horace Voice & Noah Fence
at: http://www.shinyamasaki.org/sniper_logic/itching.html

Un abrazo,

Charly

 

[Sparhawk]

Genial!!

Un abrazo,

L

 

[charly]

Genial!!

Un abrazo,

L

Luis:

Found when searching in the journals:

Fortune-telling's purported accuracy is perhaps one of the reasons it has been so ingrained in Chinese culture. As well as the Gregorian calendar, Taiwanese have been brought up using the lunar, or farmer's calendar, which indicates what days are good to get married, move house or install a stove.

Most people are also aware of, even if they cannot understand it, the I-Ching, or the Book of Changes, which employs cosmology and philosophy to explain the process of life and the cultural basis of ancient China, giving fortune-telling a spiritual dimension some sociologists compare to religion.
From:
Date with destiny
Despite the proliferation of science in the nation's development, the ancient craft of fortune-telling continues to draw those seeking answers to their problems
By Graham Norris
TAIPEI TIMES
Sunday, May 01, 2005, Page 17
AT: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2005/05/01/2003252762/print

Un abrazo,

Charly