What is the I Ching? “And what can it do for you?” The I Ching is an amazing ancient Chinese method that people have relied upon it for thousands of years! It is a book that invites you to ask any question you want and then targets the specific enduring wisdom that answers your question. You can ask any question that you care about.

Hello. Many years ago, the I Ching, or Book of Changes literally saved my life and it definitely changed my world-view! I had recently earned a double Ph.D. in social science and the non-rational side of reality had to get my attention. Which, you’ll see, it definitely did. Here is that story now. 

I always encourage clients and students to test ideas for themselves, to discover--and learn to trust--their own intuition and judgment, and not to give away their power to authority figures. The same applies here:  Don't take my word for it! I do not know if the I Ching is right for you! This class offers you a chance to explore it, test it, and reach your own conclusions.

I want to tell you an important story about a trivial decision. What matters is the process. How it was made is profound because it applies to any life question. (Ron Masa)

In this video you learn a little bit about the backgrounds of your teachers: Ron Masa, Ph.D. and Debbie Hart.

Carl Jung employed this mysterious I Ching oracle as a potent psychological tool for developing intuition and self-awareness. It became a way to communicate with the “unconscious.” The I Ching is sometimes called “the Sage” because you find yourself engaged in a very interactive conversation with wisdom. We’ve listed the I Ching as one of your teachers because this class was its idea!

What exactly happens in an I Ching reading?

A human being like me or you, with some life question or problem chooses to explore that issue by consulting the I Ching. You reflect on your issue and then write down a question—preferably not a “yes or no” type. It could be “What would happen if I take the new job I’ve been offered?”

It is important to examine the issue in question when forming your question.  

How can an outer book further our inner clarity?

The I Ching images stimulate, and resonate with, your own unconscious convictions. This helps you feel that vibration and become more aware. Something similar happens if someone sees a movie about a lost dog that triggers some unfinished tears for a dog they once lost.

This 3,000-year-old book is ancient and universal and at the same time, it is also absolutely current and personal about whatever is inspiring your heart or troubling your dreams this very day.  The I Ching is beyond contemporary; it is rooted in the present moment, the eternal Now. 

The I Ching put me into one of the toughest crises of my career as a psychologist. One day, in a most difficult case I could see that the I Ching reading the client received during a therapy session was wrong. And, it was not slightly wrong, but totally and horribly, wrong. 

The 64-hexagrams of the I Ching are a list of recurring human situations that you might find yourself in and, if so, what to do. It’s a human-situations answer sheet from which you pinpoint specific answers to your question. 

Let’s look at some of the kinds of questions you could ask the I Ching. Over the years, I have done readings for corporation heads making executive decisions, inventors about creative topics, artists seeking inspiration, scientists working on technical problems, ministers wrestling with spiritual leadership and hundreds of people facing every common human issue and important life question. 

Problem Solving  is popular among the topics you can pursue in your I Ching questions. You can explore any life problem or question. I have done readings that helped people with highly technical and scientific dilemmas, relationship problems, job choices, spiritual questions, creative blockages, and more.  The I Ching can contribute to almost any form of problem solving.  Find many more topics in this lecture.

This conversation with your own inner wisdom begins when you have a question. Maybe you have to make an important decision. Anything you would like to ask can begin the process. When deciding how much detail to include, let’s consider three different question lengths.  Learn about the Zen, the Short, and the Long Question approaches.

Questions are at the heart of consulting the I Ching. Let’s discuss some Questioning Practices.  A practice is any regular activity designed to further your development; like meditation or journaling or I Ching work. Because every person is free to use it in their own way, there are many different practices, or patterns, of consulting the I Ching.

A personal story that illustrates what I call an I Ching “News Alert.” This warning displaced the topic I had asked about in order to prepare me for a tremendous upcoming shock: the 911 terrorist attack on the twin towers.

It’s time to discuss applying the I Ching’s answer to your question. Every I Ching reading begins as a riddle. You ask a question about some life issue and the I Ching describes a universal situation that it represents and how best to manage it. 

Your riddle-style challenge with each reading is to comprehend the match between the I Ching images and your situation.

This part gets exciting because we are at the most critical point: Applying the I Ching’s answer to your question. When it clicks and you really “get it” it’s chilling and inspiring and it works. Let’s practice with an example I made up for you.

Imagine I have asked, “What should I do about my job?

by Ron Masa, Ph.D.

The questions we have been hearing most are, “How to make sense of the I Ching’s answer?” and “What if I get multiple lines?” and “What if some of them are in conflict?”

 We added five lectures on this topic to Part 2 of this class, but I wanted to take that discussion further right now, when you may be trying to apply such answers to your questions. Here are some notes:

• I Ching answers can be complex because Reality can be too. It may be confusing to have multiple moving lines and a secondary hexagram all commenting at once. If so, slow down. Focus on one line at a time. If you can’t get clear… you can ask the same question again or ask a related question. You can have an ongoing conversation, not just a one-time inquiry.
  

• If there are No Moving Lines in your I Ching answer, you only need to match the information in the main body of the hexagram to your situation. When I inquired about visiting a new restaurant and got “Retreat,” it was pretty clear. When I first inquired about attending a stone-sculpting seminar long ago, I got Hexagram 37, Family, with no lines. Having been self-taught, I was amazed to find how much of a “family” my fellow stone-carvers are. I would never have attended that workshop, or discovered this “family,” without that I Ching comment.
  

• If there Are Moving Lines in your answer, you could have from 1 to 6 of them, plus the relating, hexagram. That can be complicated. Why so many comments? If the I Ching were merely telling you what to do, short answers might work. But, to inform you about the relevant, positive-and-negative elements in a situation so that you can make your own informed decision, may call for complexity.
  

• If I ask about a relationship, I should be prepared for complexity! There are so many simultaneous aspects to any one partnership. There's always more than meets the eye.
  

• Viewed close-up, most human experience is complex. Generally speaking, I enjoyed dining out recently. Specifically, I felt the view was delightful, the waiter was rude, the conversation was great, the dessert was “to die for,” the table wobbled, and I plan to go back soon. Sometimes your answer is general, sometimes it’s specific and diverse.
  

• To focus on any one element, we must ignore most incoming data. Similarly, with sensation, we may speak of hearing or seeing something, but we are never, really, “mono-sensory!” We are always, simultaneously: “SEEING-TOUCHING-SMELLING-TASTING-HEARING” all at once, all the time. Sensation is a bundle, a grouping. Complex answers just include more of the facts we often ignore.
  

• We are also: “THINKING-FEELING-KNOWING-INTUITING-IMAGINING which also occur at the same time. Complicated, I Ching answers invite us to delve deeper and notice more of what is really going on, especially when there are contrasting elements.
  

• Sometimes multiple lines describe mutually-exclusive choices. What if I ask about an expensive purchase and am told (something like), 1. “Misfortune; you waste your resources on trivia,” and also, 2. “Good Fortune; you value what you have and protect it.” Well, which is it? Good question. Am I sometimes careful and, at times, wasteful? If so, I need to wake up to that fact. Or, am I facing a binary choice between opposites like “splurging vs. saving” where I cannot do both so I am being encouraged to make a choice.
  

• Many processes in life involve multiple, sequential steps. If I think of the stages of growth from a seed-pod to a food-source, or think of all the steps from a buck private to a 5-star general or from a first grader to a college graduate or from newly-wed to a trusted life-partner…. Multiple lines may be fitting.
  

• In this 50-50 world of opposites, nothing is perfect, (“not even a perfect stranger.”) So, it’s wise for the I Ching to identify the positive possibilities and also the inherent dangers of any given endeavor. Contradictory moving lines describe real contradictions in the world around us.
  

• The contrast between our conscious and unconscious attitudes is a major source of complexity and contrast, since conflicting ideas are often pushed into the unconscious. I may genuinely enjoy reading a particular author’s work and laugh at his jokes, while failing to notice that I am unconsciously jealous of his (seemingly)  “easy success,” and I am sometimes offended by certain themes. Even people who “Love” each other, don’t love Everything about each other. (Or so I hear.)
  

• Since we are all such complex and contradictory creatures, it’s surprising that we are challenged by complex and contradictory I Ching comments.

 One (or more!) of the above might apply to your multiple-line answers. To determine their meaning, your best aid is your intuition. I Ching answers point to information you have stored in the unconscious or can access.

 Allow the stimulus of the I Ching imagery to trigger a corresponding, intuitive insight from within yourself. Your best guide is a ‘felt validity,’ an “Aha” experience, the “chill of truth” up the spine or any recognition through direct knowing. Listen for the resonance of your own inner truth in response to the Sage’s comments. That’s your real answer.

Dr. Jung believed that the I Ching gave voice to the deep wisdom of the unconscious mind: 

“This book embodies, as perhaps no other, the living spirit of Chinese civilization for the best minds of China have collaborated on it and contributed to it for thousands of years. Despite its fabulous age it has never grown old, but still lives and works, at least for those who seek to understand its meaning.”

There are now many modern translations and versions of the I Ching available. They are very different and, honestly, most of them are very hard to follow. We can't even make sense of some of them, so choosing a good translation or two for getting started is important.

While we occasionally rely on many different versions, Debbie will introduce you to the selected few that we find to be the most helpful for ourselves and the best for students to begin with.

This is exciting because casting the coins empowers you to begin asking your own questions of the I Ching. What has been theory so far, can now become a live, personal experiment and and an adventure of self-discovery.

In order to find the answer to any question you have asked the I Ching, you need to look up the hexagram you formed when throwing the coins to locate just what parts to read. This is how you target the specific ancient wisdom that applies to your current question.

The case study of how we consulted the I Ching together to decide whether to create this class first or a course on dreams. It provides a good example of how to use the I Ching in a situation where you're trying to decide between two (or more) different options.