Here’s the article by David Cornfield with this intriguing title. It raises a lot of questions I don’t have the answers to.
The practice of divination, in any of its myriad forms, assumes there is a
particular way the world is meant to unfold, that there are forces that promote the
unfolding of the universe as it is meant to be, and that our endeavours are most likely to
be successful when our actions are in alignment with those forces. You could call these
forces fate, or destiny or, as its name suggests, divinity itself. Divination purports to identify
the nature and quality of the forces at play at a particular moment in time and to suggest
ways of anticipating and working with these forces rather than struggling against them.
From this perspective what happens by chance is not accidental or random. What happens by
chance is part of the playing out of the larger dynamic and thus happens because it is
meant to happen.”
Beautifully put, I think… except that I’m not sure about the idea that there’s a way ‘it’s meant to be’. Just because an oracle shows the true nature of the present moment, and how to work with what is – which it does – does that necessarily mean that there is a way things are meant to unfold from this moment on? And would this mean that the oracle’s answers are all laden with implicit ‘should’s?
I admire the way David Cornfield differentiates between divination and lateral thinking – the more so since when I first started with the I Ching, I expected it to be a lateral thinking exercise. It seems that for him as for me, it was the quality of the answers that blew this comfortable idea out of the water. But he goes on to explain how he stopped using the oracle for a decade – not despite but because of the accuracy of the answers. I wonder how often this happens?
Good and chewy food for thought…
The way David sees divination belongs to a Western perspective; with so much similarity to traditional teachings on Yi Jing, but with some important diferences
In traditional teachings, those so called “forces” are 4:
Heaven, Earth, Mankind and Chance.
One can “predict” the evolution of Heaven, Earth and Mankind, according with their own rules of transformation; but cann’t “predict” Chance. Because of this, there is no written future, only tendencies (and of course, Mankind have the posibility to change by own decisition, modifying the final outgoing).
One metaphora could help: “Chance” is some kind of quantum leap; totally unpredictable. Of course, there are models to “predict” the evolution of some subatomic particle (and the “work” in general, as Yi Jing works in genreal); but always the posibility of a quantum leap is present.
So, even if we can agree that divination “….purports to identify the nature and quality of the forces at play at a particular moment in time and to suggest ways of anticipating and working with these forces rather than struggling against them”, the consecuence (in traditional teachings) is NOT that “what happens by chance is not accidental or random. What happens by chance is part of the playing out of the larger dynamic and thus happens because it is meant to happen”
This also explain why divination (in traditional teachings) is no useful to predict lotery; because in lotery, is only Chance the force that acts.
Best wishes
I’ve always approached divination – and the I Ching most of all – as a guide rather than a predictor, and sought it out at “crossroads” times in my life, when there were many possibilities or options, and I was stymied either by how to choose one, or by how to bring into manifestation one I had chosen. I find that’s where divination has always served me best – not in telling me what *will* happen, but in telling me what *can* happen, and most of all, how.
That’s always been a huge challenge for me in reading for others – and is a big reason I rarely do so any more. When people come looking for a reading, they want hard and fast answers: This is what WILL happen if you do this thing. I explain that divination deals in likelihoods, and nearly all it says is subject to free will. My favorite example is that an oracle might say that tomorrow you could meet someone important to your career at the grocery store, if you stay alert to what’s happening around you there. You can always decide to not go to the grocery store, and then the oracle will be wrong. What it’s doing is dealing in the likelihood that because you need groceries, you’ll go to the store, rather than stay home just to be a wisenheimer.
But people just *hate* that, and usually walk away disappointed. They want those lottery numbers and absolutes jesed’s talking about up there – the things divination won’t provide.
So Jesed, you’re saying that the I Ching describes all predictable tendencies, but there is also an element – Chance – that has no tendencies, and hence is utterly unpredictable? And this is analogous to the modern science that tells us that some things cannot be predicted, even with all the data in the universe?
Windlotus, I couldn’t agree more with your first paragraph. And I’ve also met a few people who want hard and fast predictions that preclude their own free will (like ‘will I ever get married?’). I can understand where they’re coming from, of course – sometimes wanting a guarantee of results before putting the work in, sometimes almost wanting permission to contemplate a possibility. It makes some emotional sense, even when it doesn’t make any other kind.
But I think I’ve had much better luck (hm, Jesed, is that what I mean?) than you have in the people who’ve approached me for readings. The huge, huge majority use the oracle with great intelligence to make the workings of their own free will more meaningful. And divining for people who ‘get it’ is a joy.
Hi Hillary
Yes. This also explain why the accuracy of Yi Jing’s answers is mayor when talking about the past (95-100%) than about the future (80-92% depending on the skills of the interpreter). Because, what had happened cann’t be affected by Chance anymore.
Best wishes
Hilary, you have been lucky, or you’ve been stealing all the good ones away *laugh* I seem to draw the “Gimme lottery numbers” people like a magnet, and I’ve begun to think more and more over the years it’s because I’ve never charged for readings. People really do seem to think if something’s free, it’s worth every penny they paid for it – so they don’t treat readings seriously, no matter how much I do so. I’m still not comfortable with charging though, so it seemed better to just stop.
***But he goes on to explain how he stopped using the oracle for a decade – not despite but because of the accuracy of the answers. I wonder how often this happens?***
Hi Hilary, I believe I have expressed several times on Clarity that I barely “use” the Yi because of what this person explains. I got scared early on about the accuracy of the Yi. I keep a journal of all my queries going back 30 years and they all fit in one small journal with about half of its pages still empty.
As for his take on “fate”, etc., I do not agree much with it. I have yet to read the other comments above but my belief is that we “hop” amongst realities and for realities I mean “parallel universes”, something that has been theorised quite a bit in the physics realm. I believe Philip K. Dick mentioned something similar. I sort of believe the Yi is a tool that can be used to hop among realities; like a map that covers all said and existing realities and is able to show us where to switch trains…
Cheers,
Luis (still here and always reading)
New to this site and find it very interesting.
I dont practice the I-Ching but have found myself interested in Taoism for a while now as it reflects similar beliefs to my Path…
I have always cast lots for answers but never believed the answers were guided but always by chance, for me its more of an answer I may need when I have come to a crossroads of sort, for example, right now I need to make a career decision between one very nice paying job that is a deep passion of mine but would require me to work 6 days a week and being disabled that would be very hard and I would always be around people and have to live in the city and I am very much a country person that likes to be alone in nature. The other Job is not as well paying and isnt much of a passion of mine but would allow me to live in the country and not be around people at all.
I may cast the lots on this but for now I am just meditating and will see what that tells me if anything.
I know that the answer will be random according to my beliefs but I still find great value in the answers and in the experience of following the answer I am given.
Unguided, by chance, random, and yet of great value when followed. Paradoxical? Maybe. It has a good feeling about it, though.