Further Aspects Method Insights: Conditional Groups

 

What are the Fundamental Aspects of Change Anyway?

 

What are the Fundamental Aspects of Change Anyway?

Time Passes – Another Understanding Evolves

” And thus we can also say that li [pattern in its most personal or integrated sense] encodes networks of social and cosmological knowledge in a distinctive practice-oriented medium that is neither strictly “oral” nor “literate”...

...Zhu Xi (1130-1200) takes hexagrams as signs in a process of mind training. His project is to work back past the meaning of the Chinese language texts to what he sees as the pre-linguistic expression of the meaning in bare hexagrams, and from the hexagrams to the deeper layer of meaning that they in turn represent – to the very order of things, which he calls “the pattern”, ( li ).”

Kidder Smith, from The Difficulty of the I Ching, pages 5 & 15

“Patterns of energy flow were the great metaphysical discovery of the prehistoric world because they were analogies for social life and for the structure of the whole cosmos....Energy flow is fundamentally the same for our life processes as it was for our distant [prehistoric] cousins.”

Paul Shepard, from Welcome Home to the Pleistocene, pages 162 & 163

While Kidder Smith was examining how we, as modern interpreters perceive the Yijing, through its various avenues of cognition, Paul Shepard, as a biologist was exploring the genetic principles of perception itself. And even with the limitations of these types of broad-brush explanations, a note of cosmic patterning, at the heart of the Aspects method, reveals itself to us in the duplicity of their language.

The three sancai, or potentials, of Heaven, Earth and Man are terms that reflect one way of seeing the world, an ancient way, but also modern when reinterpreted as Environmental, Personal and Cultural context that more accurately reflect our sensibilities today. Their metaphysical relationships are best understood as patterns imprinted on our very genes.

The sixteen Aspect groups could be read as the Aspects of Change. Or for that matter, so could the interactive, dynamic relationships of all three image/potentials in each hexagram, as they reflect each hexagram's conceptual meaning. Yet, in consideration of the idea that a more primitive perception (energetics) is a key to understanding the deepest layers of meaning in the Book, perhaps it would be more accurate to define both sancai (the three potentials of environment, humanity and culture) and sixiang (the primordial flow of energy) in their simplicity as the two, deepest Aspects of Change available to us.

The Aspect groups themselves represent sensible realms of experience, and the patterns of energy flow that give rise to those groups are what continues to connect us with the prehistorical world of our inherent human nature. But it is the very notions of time (when, within a cyclical flow of energy) and place (where, in context) seen as a mutually reinforcing continuum - so modern yet so primitive - a truly fundamental way to explore the Changes.

 

The Yijing Insight Images

 

Trigram Energy Aspects

Yijing Trigram Body / Energy Aspects

from The Total I Ching by Stephen Karcher

Qian, Creativity

Dragon Force

Descending, dispersing energy

Regulates life's rhythms - the lungs / skin / central nervous system

Kun, Receptivity

Dark Valley Force

Stabilizing energy

Nourishment - the stomach / spleen

Zhen, Thunder

Arousing Force

Stimulating, decisive energy

Governs emotions / sexuality - liver / vision / blood

Sun, Wind

Penetrating Force

Stimulating, decisive energy

Governs emotions / sexuality - liver / vision / blood

Xi Kan, Flowing Water

Protection

Conserving energy

Actualizes potential energy / shen (original energy) - kidneys

Li, Fire

Radiance

Spiritual energy

Commands the heart / arteries and veins

Gen, Mountain

Stillness

Transforming energy

Controls and protects central energies - stomach / spleen

 Dui, Mist, Lake

Expression

Stimulating, connecting energy

Regulates life's rhythms - the lungs / skin / central nervous system

There are five different body aspects identified with the eight trigrams.

The Six Agencies of Physical and Mental Well Being:

Based on Commentatory Principles of Hexagram Structure

Guiding Parameters and Principles

~ Idealized Characteristics of Inner and Outer Trigrams

~ Traditional Societal 'Identities' Associated with Each Line

~ Relationships of Correspondence and Holding Together Between the Lines

~ The Ultimate Harmony of a middle way

~ Deep Meanings Found in Combinations of Abstract and Concrete

The Theory

Human health is reflected in unceasing biological energies emanating both from yielding natural forces and from firm ones. Our health and well being depend on a harmonious balance of these forces as they intermingle within our organism. Illness is a reflection of imbalances caused by lack of self-awareness and/or care.

The Schematic Arrangement of The Six Agencies of Health

[TUI] Last LESSONS AND CHANGE: LASTING EFFECTS

[KEN] 5^th RESOLUTION: RECOVERY OR DECLINE

[LI] 4^th MANIFESTATIONS: THE APPEARANCE OF SYMPTOMS

[K'AN] 3^rd BIOCHEMICAL: CHANGE AT THE MOLECULAR LEVEL

[SUN] 2^nd PSYCHOLOGICAL: IDENTITY & ATTITUDE

[CHEN] First AWARENESS: BELIEFS & SENSITIVITIES

Application of the Principles of Hexagram Structure

E    First AWARENESS: BELIEFS & SENSITIVITIES

A   [May correspond with the 4^th.]

R   Energies flow from the earth into our biological existence.

T   They can be understood and managed best through intuition
H   and meditation at this level.

      2nd PSYCHOLOGICAL: IDENTITY & ATTITUDE

      [Rests on the First and corresponds with the 5^th.]

      Health and illness are experienced in an abstract form as we attempt to

      understand and sometimes, unfortunately, to also judge our evolving  
      states of well being.

M   3rd BIOCHEMICAL: CHANGE AT THE MOLECULAR LEVEL

A   [Rests on the 2^nd and may correspond with the Last.]

N   Processes beyond our direct control are always at work inside  
/   our bodily systems. This line represents the transition from our
W  inner selves to the reality of appearances. It is also one of two
O   agencies men/women directly associate with our day-to-day
M   well being; human-centered, and it is influenced by firm energy.

A

N   4th MANIFESTATIONS: THE APPEARANCE OF SYMPTOMS

      [May correspond with the First.]

      This agency signifies our awareness of our our health affects the

      actions we decide to take. If we have judged ourselves, we may

      assign blame or act out of fear. If we are listening carefully

      in a non-judgmental way to what our body is telling us, we act

      sympathetically. Representing The Time of Illness; 

      it has the potential of yielding, receptive energy.

H    5th  RESOLUTION: RECOVER OR DECLINE

E     [Rests upon the 4^th and corresponds with the 2^nd.]

A    The governing agency of our well being operates with the

V     strong influence of firm energies. All four previous agencies

E    play a role in outcomes, however the inherently spiritual nature

N    of this energy has the potential to overcome even serious illness.

      Last  LESSONS AND CHANGE: LASTING EFFECTS

      [Rests on the 5^th and may correspond with the 3^rd.]

      If we move on, using the lessons of our illness to better care

      for ourselves, making adjustments of a preventative nature,

      we have seen the meaning of The Time of Illness. If we do not,

      we have not completely restored ourselves to health;

      and 'the seeds of change' will have already been planted for 

      future confrontation with our body/mind.

Use of The 'Agencies of Health' Theory in Yijing Divination

When an inquiry specifically mentions illness (or health maintenance), and also when a received response contains a strong element of that situation, any changing line(s) provide a focus on one (or more) of the six agencies, as described above.

If there are no changing lines, one should reflect on the essential notion that health is a personal responsibility, and a reflection of our harmony within the universe.