POP06 - The Iching
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DawnSayer@webpal.org
Through the decades
I have conducted many classes
on the subject of meditation.
At one time traveling a circuit
on weekends week after week
through small communities
where I had placed newspaper ads
in Northern Ontario.
Never have I charged a dime
(nor taken a donation)
for these courses.
At another time I had large classes
in what was the then popular
"free college movement"
at a large university.
There came to these classes
week after week
an individual who repeatedly pleaded with me
to allow him to cast the I-Ching for me.
I declined.
But, finally I agreed,
on one condition -
that it be cast in the dark.
If you are not familiar with this method,
it is similar to that related in the Book of Daniel
where the king called in his astrologers and soothsayers
and asked them to interpret his dream
without his telling them what the dream was.
My fortune teller,
was equally well astounded at my suggestion
(you must read Daniel to see the king's fortune tellers' response)
but at last he agreed to proceed.
What we did in this method,
is that I wrote the question on a piece of paper,
folded the paper so the question could not be seen
or changed
and placed it in the middle of the mat
on which we were about to cast the I-Ching.
Assuming the traditional positions,
and offering the traditional prayers,
we began the process.
If you are not aware of how the I-Ching is cast
I shall briefly explain the process.
A die is cast,
and a marker is positioned.
There are something like ten groupings
of five each (as I remember).
The arrangement would look something like this:
10100___11000___00110___01101___11101
11011___01100___01011___00110___10111
The actually arrangment of the ones and zeroes
in the above example
is coincidental.
I just picked them randomly as an example.
The thing to notice here is that there are two rows
The top row represents
HEAVEN
and the bottom row represents
EARTH.
Each of the groupings has an interpretative meaning,
and the interpretations are given according to long tradition
as found in Interpretative Books written about the I-Ching.
The actual position of the ones and zeroes,
is determined in a ritualistically prescribed order
by casting the die.
It takes a while to go through the whole process,
but in the end here was our ACTUAL result.
11111___11111___11111___11111___11111
00000___00000___00000___00000___00000
The getting of all the ones in a line
and all the zeroes in another
is the equivalent of flipping a coin
and first getting fifty heads,
and then getting fifty tails all in a row.
I was teaching statistics in the college
and I can tell you that the probability of this happening
is much, much less than than of picking all seven numbers
in the lottery.
Now the real significance of this comes in regards to the question.
Sort of like that quiz show on TV called Jeporady
where they give you the answer
and you formulate the question.
This was the answer.
What was the question?
First to examine the meaning of the answer.
In this answer
all the ones in heaven
means that heaven is ruling
over all the zeroes on earth.
I won't go into all the mystical significances.
But now we opened the paper
so my fortune teller friend could see the question -
It was -
"Is the Prophet that I am trying to teach you about
the True Prophet?"
He never returned.
Peace and love,
Bruce Beach
DawnSayer@webpal.org