The extent to which the language of the I Ching speaks of “good fortune” is linked to responsible choice. Let it go forth into the world for the benefit of those who can discern its meaning.Īlthough historically the symbols of the I Ching are known to have been used for divination, the texts do not lend themselves to fortune-telling, but do strongly encourage personal responsibility and integrity - hallmark goals of psychotherapy. He who is not pleased by it does not have to use it, and he who is against it is not obliged to find it true. To one person its spirit appears as clear as day to another, shadowy as twilight to a third, dark as night. It offers neither facts nor power, but for lovers of self-knowledge, of wisdom – if there be such – it seems to be the right book. Like a part of nature, it waits until it is discovered. The I Ching does not offer itself with proofs and results it does not vaunt itself, nor is it easy to approach. In his introduction to the Wilhelm-Baynes edition, Jung wrote: Carol Anthony’s language is considerably more accessible, but sufficiently open to interpretation to serve as a creative stimulus in therapy. I have, in the past, consulted the “original” Wilhelm-Baynes edition, which I find to be poetic and rich, but also substantially obscure and less useful as an introduction to the I Ching for someone formerly uninitiated. Anthony’s book includes a simple direction about tossing coins and charting a hexagram. Anthony supplemented her understanding with imagery and associations pursuant to meditation on the text. Baynes of Richard Wilhelm’s German translation - known as the Wilhelm-Baynes edition. She used as her text an English translation by Cary F. Anthony, of Stow, Massachusetts, entitled simply, A Guide to the I Ching. The most lucid guide to the I Ching that I have found is a book written by Carol K. The person who wishes to consult the I Ching, and who throws the coins, is considered to have, at that moment, a meaningful connection to the pattern of lines created - with a consequently meaningful connection to the hexagram that is formed, and to its interpretation. This is in contrast to Western thought, where “coincidence” is customarily defined as “chance happening” - as having no special meaning. I usually introduce the idea behind the tossing of the coins by observing that in Eastern culture, the concept of “synchronicity” (co-incidence) has real significance. Today’s consultation may, instead, be based on a computation of “heads and/or tails” resulting from six consecutive tossings of three coins each by the petitioner. In its ancient usage, a consultation with the I Ching involved the tossing of handfuls of sticks from the yarrow plant. The text of the I Ching dates from about 1,300 years before Christ, having begun as commentaries based upon a set of sixty-four Chinese symbols comprised of six lines each: six broken lines (yin) and/or unbroken lines (yang) stacked one upon another, as hexagrams, in every variation/combination possible, for the total of sixty-four. Along with much else, I learned that Jung had studied the wisdom of the I Ching using a German translation by Richard Wilhelm (1921). My own experience with the I Ching had its beginning decades ago, when first I read Carl Jung’s dictated autobiography, Memories, Dreams, and Reflections, and began an exploration of Jung’s contributions to psychiatry. Depending upon the patient’s openness to the option, I sometimes suggest that we try consulting a reading from a guide to the Chinese book of wisdom, the I Ching. In the course of psychotherapy, it happens, sometimes, that the work seems “stuck” - my patient persists in talking (often complaining) about the same material in about the same way, session after session. When therapy seems stuck, ancient Chinese wisdom may come to the rescue.
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