Does anyone else study the I Ching? I am just starting to. It is said to be one of the oldest and wisest books to come out of China, and has been highly influential in the writing of Sun Tzu's- The Art of War, and many other Taoist classics. Confucious was supposed to have said"If there was one thing I would have done differently in my life; I would have studied the I Ching more."

Any insights?

Only that the number 8 is revered in the East and the I-Ching is 64 unique hexagrams. The patterns are made of full and broken lines, and each hexagram has a meaning in regards to changes in time. Terrence McKenna built a whole theory and software application which showed that time was fractal and that this was essentially what the I-Ching was about. He was shown to have made some errors in his calculations, and he welcomed being wrong because that gave him the ability to refine his idea. Although way out there, his ideas are still quite engaging.

As for the I-Ching, I think wanting to find mystery and some 'secret' that only you have managed to decode, is partly the reason for a lot of the crazy ideas floating around. I'd love to know more about it though, I've not studied it directly.

Here is a pretty good overview at wikapedia

Maybe Confucious didn't say that after all.

Most likely, but I think I Ching is mostly offered as a map, or guide instead of a key. A guide that may show you the way to secrets about yourself in the changing times. A way to respond more appropriately to changes inside, and outside yourself. That's my current perception.

How about a method, similar to a divining rod that resonates to a prominent condition.
My Teacher loved the I Ching and used it to verify his intuitive insights to probable realities.

I'd like to hear more about it if possible Joe. Its an interesting concept, and one that the late Terrence McKenna put a lot weight upon, to the point of creating his own disproven theory on the fractal nature of time based on the I-Ching.

To me though it seems more like a philosophy and symbology system, with a drive to connect to the raw psyche of the individual, just like the Tarot it seems its simply a self-reflection tool.

If the vibratory nature of the manifest universe can be listened to, or if one could tune into it, then one could by intuition connect to certain repetitive frequency changes and constants.
Similar to the way scientists predict weather by systems of measure that relate to variables in air temp, pressure and humidity, psychic resonance can be tuned to sensitize ones self to the fluctuations in the vibrational changes in surrounding matter. It has currents of direction and fluctuations in desire and emotional content.
The I Ching is based on a Science of Universal cause and effect, change and its constants.
The school of thought is that intention and action create waves of vibrational frequencies that have an effect on surrounding structures of molecular design. In other words nothing happens by accident but rather everything happens by design and is a result of conscious choice.
Conscious in this case meaning intelligent forces, but not always are these forces conscious in the awareness of human sensory perception because the senses are often trained to perceive a more gross level of reality based on measuring devices that are created from gross levels of understanding.

There is a question that is posed over and over in the Yoga Vasishta: If a crow lands on a coconut tree and a coconut falls, did the crow dislodge the coconut from the tree or did the crow land at the exact moment when the coconut had ripened and in its predestined nature dislodge itself from the tree?
Spiritual sciences maintain that there is a relationship between consciousness or intelligence and the creation and maintenance of creation as well as change and destruction. In Eastern philosophy these forces are called the Gunas, Sattva, Tamas and Rajas. They are represented by the yin and the yang.
The symbol contains the darker area which represents Tamas guna or the forces of destruction. The lighter area represents Sattva guna, the forces of creation. Note that both have a small dot in the field of potential, a small amount of Tamas in Sattva and a small amount of Sattva in Tamas, this is because in duality or the field of the manifest there is always some of the opposite within the design of anything that is not an absolute. The circle and the line between the two fields of potential represents Rajas, the intelligent action or consciousness in activity, or God, or Love, the force of nature which bind creation and destruction together to create and support a manifestation of thought and desire. The circle around the forces represent the manifestation of thought into matter and the tension (the line between the two fields of potential) moves the two fields of potential into activity creating movement or change.
These gunas and fields of potential are also represented in the Aum/Amen symbol The three gunas are the points to the left of what looks like a backwards E, where they meet to the right they create the manifest which flows outward and the line with the dot above represent consciousness or the seat of God in the absolute.
In Western spiritual sciences these forces are represented by the cross. The vertical staff represents the male or stable presence of God in support of all things, the horizontal bar represents the feminine or the manifestation of creation, and the center where they meet the bindhu point where the absolute or the unmanifest potential meets conscious activity and the manifest.

Eastern and Western astrologers measure cosmic forces in the surrounding universe by using planetary alignment, constellations, place and time of birth for the predictions of the prevailing winds in an individuals path of evolution.

The I Ching taps into the prevailing winds of change with a method of spiritually and scientifically deduced methods of recognition to predict probable realities, based on repeatable recognized patterns within the manifest universe.

I agree thats what it does, but how can it be called scientific? The significance and time window of a 'reading' is left entirely to the enterpreter.

I also believe the cross to be a bastardised version of the Ankh, as do many others. After all the Christian religion migrated straight out of Egyptian rule, and biologically our origins are from African descendants. What do you think on this matter? It makes historical sense.

What I was actually asking was how your teacher used the I-Ching in his teachings and to understand his own spiritual beliefs?

He used it in conjunction with his intuitive senses and the science of Yoga.

I think there are many ways to symbolize the forces of nature, I don't think anyone needs to claim the perfect symbol or that any perspective of the same intelligence is greater when directly tapped into the nature of reality.


You think we are descendants of African Origin. I think civilization has risen and fallen many times on this planet and the origin of humanity precedes the birth of this planet.
Some say Egyptians were ignorant peasants until the survivors of Atlantis arrived with their science and religion.
I also think there are civilizations that exist on other planets in other galaxies and that they too symbolize the intelligent forces of nature in their own way.
I also think that man will continue to discover themselves and their relationship to the natural intelligence that abides in the nature of relative matter and human will, and by their own cognitive abilities symbolize their experiences in writings and discourses.
As a child discovers the world that has existed and has been experienced by the parent, it is the parents duty to lead the child to their own experience rather than to force the beliefs and symbols of their own experience onto the child. Wisdom exists to lead one beyond limitations rather than to impose the limitations and restrictions of ones own personal reality. As such few can lead another beyond their own limitations, if they insist the child accept their way and beliefs.


Personally I don't believe any one person or groups of civilized persons has a greater ability to recognize the intelligent forces of nature, tho I do know from my own experience that some utilize their abilities better than others.

This is an easily defended stance on the topic, but I'll go ahead anyway If the origin of humanity precedes our life on this planet, then did we just happen to bring all the animals with us on a 'space ark'? If not and we arrived in our current forms then what happened to the higher primates - did they devolve rather than us evolve? Maybe your views are more geared towards panspermia and the Earth being seeded by a comet/asteroid. If this is your belief then I 'd like to point out that only mushroom spores can spread through space for aeons without any trouble.
Some also say that Egypt and Americas had no contact at all, despite cocaine (south american export) being found in the Pharoahs. The civilisations of South America, particularly Peru, were equally impressive and organised at the same time the Egyptian civilisation arose. Same story in China/India, no Atlanteans required.
I agree, and I only hope that we can meet and become friends rather than trying to eradicate each other like a pest. The seed of life is everywhere, I don't have any doubts that the line we draw around 'life' is a mental construct because the same process is going on everywhere and it arises from materials we currently classify as non-living.

Do you think that life on a similar planet would resemble life here?

I hear they can clone animals these days, I wonder how long they can keep DNA before it goes bad..It would appear from fossils that have been found that there were certain species of animals that don't exist anymore.
I wonder if its possible that life forms have existed without leaving any trace of their existence, or any trace that is observable by current technology and conscious development. I also wonder if its possible for humans to devolve. If there were to be a crisis or war that wiped out much of the human race and its technology, would man be able to survive without tools he had become dependent on. Would man rediscover what was lost in knowledge and technology and would it develop in exactly the same way.?


Some say survivors of Atlantis are responsible for the impressive civilizations in Peru, China and India.

I think it could but I also think that the intelligence of the universe has a sense of humor and of balance. I doubt it would be exactly the same. I think it can be envisioned as being whatever you can imagine, possibly even beyond the imagination of some, and as many ideas as one could design there can be just as many probable realities as could be imagined.