THE WISDOM OF THE I CHING

     Back somewhere in the sixties, my friend, Stan McDaniel, called, out of the blue, wanting to visit. I hadn't seen him in years. Excited, I invited him over.

     That evening, Stan and I talked about our lives since we had last seen each other. I was still at UCLA, still trying to earn my Ph.D. in Philosophy. (I changed my major to Psychology soon after this.) Stan had been living back east, studying Philosophy on his own. He was a hippie now and had just moved to the Bay Area, to a place he called Haight-Ashbury, a name that meant nothing to me at the time.

     After dinner and a good bowl, he told me more. He had been doing LSD for the past several years. He wanted me to try it. He wanted me to come up to Haight-Ashbury and see what was happening. He was returning there the next day. He invited me to come up the following weekend and trip with him at a Janis Joplin concert.

     I decided right then and there that I would go. I told him so. I also told him that I didn't know about doing LSD. I was tempted, but I was also afraid of what would happen to me if I did it.

     Then he brought out this book. He said it was called the I Ching. He spent the next several hours explaining it to me. I don't think anyone else could have helped me make sense out of this extremely holy but also extremely archaic book of wisdom.

     Later that night, after Stan had left, I had two dreams. In the first, I'm watching a rushing river overflow its banks and flood the UCLA campus. It was exciting, but I knew, even in the dream, that this was what would happen to me if I did LSD up north. At that time, I wasn't at all ready to quit school or start my life over. I still needed to earn my Ph.D. The next day, thinking about this dream, I decided that I would still meet Stan up north, but I wouldn't do acid then.

     I also dreamt that I see an ancient Chinese man, dressed in the long, blue robes and that cap that they all wore. I watch him drive by in an old car. He sees me and does a double take. Then he turns his car around and heads right towards me. I woke from this dream with a very powerful feeling that something very important had just happened to me. I knew that somehow I had a deep, inner connection with the I Ching and the ancient Chinese wisdom that it contained.



     Since then, over the years, I have often consulted the I Ching. I have usually asked it about my present situation, knowing that it would tell me how the superior person would act in such a situation. In addition, I have always asked it, on the Winter Solstice, what the coming solar year would bring. Then, as the year has unfolded, the I Ching's answer would always be interesting, relevant, and illuminating.

     I have found that the I Ching has a mind of its own. Sometimes it won't answer my question, but instead comments upon my present consciousness, often saying that I'm not clear or centered enough to ask the question. Saying perhaps that I should go meditate for awhile or smoke a bowl first - or maybe just figure it out myself.

     Sometimes the I Ching can be uncanny, telling me about things that are coming into my life, things that I haven't seen coming at all - preparing and warning me in advance. I remember once receiving the hexagram "Dispersion." In this hexagram, the changing line was the last, or top line. This line talks about "the dispersion of that which would lead to bloodshed and wounds, i.e., avoidance of danger. But here the thought is not that a man avoids difficulties for himself alone, but rather that he rescues his kin - helps them to get away before danger comes, or to keep at a distance from an existing danger, or to find a way out of a danger that is already upon them. In this way he does what is right."

     After sitting there for awhile, wondering what the I Ching was trying to tell me, I gave up trying to understand and wandered outside. Back then, I lived in Eugene, Oregon, in an apartment house that had a Volkswagen garage in the back, one run by Cecil Strange. Outside, I saw my ex-wife Karen with our little girl Ariana. Karen was arguing with Cecil. She and Ariana had been coming into Eugene from Deadwood, out in the coast range. A wheel had come off! She was lucky that she and Ariana weren't killed. She was lucky that she could put the spare on and continue into Eugene. But she was very upset. Cecil felt this and had his back up. The situation was deteriorating rapidly.

     I walked over and took Ariana into my arms, stepping away from the argument. She fell asleep in my arms almost immediately, and I carried her around like this for more than an hour, just loving on her. I told Cecil that Karen was freaked out. Wouldn't he be in the same situation? I asked him what he could do to help Karen's van. That's what she wanted, help, and soon. Her van was central to her life then. Cecil calmed down and began to help her. I could feel the fear and anger leave, the calm descend. Somewhere in the middle of all this, I remembered the I Ching's hexagram "Dispersion," the one that I'd received just before I had come outside. Now I understood. I was rescuing my kin - helping them find a way out of a danger that was already upon them and which had almost overwhelmed them.


     I still consult the I Ching regularly. Every morning, I ask about my day, as it's beginning. Every night, before going to bed, I ask about my day, as it's ending. It's amazing just how many times I get the same hexagrams for morning and bedtime. And when there is a change, it is also instructive, showing me how I have acted within the pattern that I'd been living through during the day.

     I have learned a great deal about myself and life from my studies with the I Ching. I have learned that we tend to repeat the same patterns over and over again, unless we finally become conscious of what we are doing and stop. I have learned that we go through patterns that influence and shape our lives. I have learned that it isn't important what patterns we are in, whether those of success and good fortune or those of remorse and misfortune. All that is important is how we act while in these various patterns. I have seen also that sometimes we can go from a very positive pattern or situation into one that has much to be desired. However, again, it is only important how we behave while in these patterns.

     Going from a very positive hexagram to a very negative one has taught me that blame and causality are not at all relevant to staying centered and conscious. Over time, I have come to see that the underlying order of the universe is not based upon causality but rather upon meaning, or what Carl Jung has called synchronicity. We don't go from one situation to the next because of what we have done. We go from one to the other in order to learn something about ourselves and the world. Knowing this has helped me to stay in the here and now and not to worry about where I might be going next.

     Most of all, I have learned of the path called the Tao that wanders through the I Ching,, through all the 64 hexagrams and the various situations that they portray. With the help of the I Ching, I have learned also how to stay upon this path, trying always to be the kind, loving and conscious person I was placed here upon this Earth to be.

     When I look back over the years, back to the sixties and to my dream that began and has sustained this long and illuminating relationship with the I Ching, I realize that that ancient Chinese holy man must have somehow noticed something in me, an improbable but powerful affinity with the consciousness that has been and will always be manifested through the words and images of this great book. For me, that old Chinese wise man has always embodied the consciousness behind the wisdom of the I Ching. I see him still today. Knowing him has blessed me.

     By Eugene Marks