

It is not a state of rest, for mere standstill is regression.

Wilhelm’s translation offers the following commentary: “Duration is a state whose movement is not worn down by hindrances.

THE IMAGE: Thunder and wind: the image of DURATION. In the recent consultation the result was hexagram 32 – Heng / Duration: I take deep breaths and concentrate on the question blocking out all distractions. I find it works best to frame a vague, open question such as, “What influences should I be aware of in today’s mediation?” The particular online tool I use can be found here. The first step in consulting the I Ching is to formulate a question.
#The i ching professional
The recent case I referred to was a multiple party professional negligence claim, involving numerous issues of fact and law and which had given rise to some bad blood among a few of the lawyers involved. I consult the I Ching because I have found that it attunes me to influences (not the least those within me) that I need to be conscious of as I approach the mediation session. It’s well worth the read and can be found here. Jung was in his 80s when he wrote the foreword which links the I Ching to his theories of archetypes, synchronicity and the limitations of the Western scientific principle of causality. The best of the English translations of the I Ching, or Book of Changes is still that of Richard Wilhelm, translated from the German in 1950, with a foreword by C. The hexagram, once complete, links to a message from the text. Nowadays the internet provides more convenient options. Traditionally the hexagram is constructed by the person consulting the oracle line by line by casting forty-nine stalks of the yarrow plant or three coins. The HexagramsĪt its core the I Ching is a set of 64 hexagrams – six stacked lines, broken or unbroken – said to represent every possible situation. I have found it helpful in the world of conflict resolution as well.

It has provided insight and inspiration to the worlds of religion, psychoanalysis, literature, and art. The I Ching is an ancient Chinese oracle dating back about 3,000 years. I performed an ancient divination ritual. Various modern scholars suggest dates for the original text ranging between the 10th and 4th centuries BCE.Recently, as I sat in a mediation room awaiting the arrival of lawyers and clients I did something I have often done for more than 20 years. After becoming part of the Five Classics in the 2nd century BCE, the I Ching was the subject of scholarly commentary, and the basis for divination practice for centuries across the Far East, and eventually took on an influential role in western understanding of eastern thought.
#The i ching series
Then during the Warring States Period (475–221 BCE) and early Imperial Period, the I Ching was transformed into a cosmological text with a series of philosophical commentaries known as the Ten Wings.
#The i ching manual
Indeed, the text has had a profound influence on western culture, but it originated as a divination manual in the Western Zhou Period (1000–750 BCE) of Ancient China. 8 The text has been used for well over two millennia as a cultural reference, and has inspired ideas in religion, psychoanalysis, literature, and art. The I Ching, also known as the Book of Changes, is an ancient Chinese divination text, and it is one of the oldest pieces of Chinese literature.
