Jung Andi Ching

See MyersBriggs and MyersBriggsAndJung

In his autobiography Jung wrote 'Sometimes I sat for hours under a thousand year old pear, I Ching at hand, exercising the technique, by putting into perspective (Dutch = relativeren) - in a of kind question and answer game - the successive oracles. They gave, unmistakebly, remarkable results which I couldn't explain within my own realm of thought'

Jung was very attracted to I Ching "its aptness and clarifying power". He was so astonished by the deep insight that I Ching gave him for all his vital questions, that he said he almost believed in the old myth of a living creature housing in the book.

Jung was convinced of the limits of logical thinking and knew that beyond those limits other interesting things were awaiting exploration. He was convinced that the Chinese study of associations was as scientific as our study of causal relations. There was only the dimension of time : we look for facts that take place one after the other; the science of I Ching is based on synchrone facts (Jung and the idea of synchronity). The use of logic is unsuitable in understanding taoism. The only instrument that helps is intuition ("unconscious perceiving"). I Ching helps to cultivate this instrument that is latent in every human being.

-- (My translation and transcript from Dutch) - MartineDevos

I used to fool with the i ching once upon a time. I was initially quite spooked by it, but then realized there's a perfectly mundane reason for its apparent magic. The i ching presents a series of context-free stories plus various impartial but evocative completions (the moving lines). If you read your question into its symbolism, you'll inevitably get an answer that means something when you read it back.

Tarot works just the same way. These techniques can be handy when you're stumped by life's little vicissitudes. But don't imagine there's anything spooky going on - you do all the magic yourself. --EasternWuss

Well, yes and no. As a professional tarot master and instructor I have to say that yes, each tarot card (and each I Ching Hexagram) expresses a story or archetype that is common to all human experience. But that is only one of the levels on which random oracles work. They are also psycological tools and tools for facilitating dicussion. But the "spooky" part (and I wouldn't call it spooky but I would call it magickal, or at least metaphysical) is that the oracles really can give very specific information that applies to a specific person at a specific time. They can also be tools that enhance intuition and help one access their own intuitive abilities. I would suggest that perhaps you have never had a really dynamite tarot or I Ching reading. --Christiana

Well, maybe for sane people. Check out http://www.links.net/vita/spirit/iching/pkdick.html for Philip K. Dick's interpretation. --EasterWuss

It's a form of UnBlocking?. Something else EdwardDeBono claims to have invented...