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!!P38zFLDUYUh/x/40678088#40684734
7/8/2025, 11:29:22 PM
>In ancient times the holy sages made the Book of Changes thus:
>They invented the yarrow-stalk oracle in order to lend aid in a mysterious way to the light of the gods.
>To heaven they assigned the number three and to earth the number two; from these they computed the other numbers.
>They contemplated the changes in the dark and the light and established the hexagrams in accordance with them. They brought about movements in the firm and the yielding, and thus produced the individual lines.
>They put themselves in accord with tao and its power, and in conformity with this laid down the order of what is right. By thinking through the order of the outer world to the end, and by exploring the law of their nature to the deepest core, they arrived at an understanding of fate.
This first section refers to the Book of Changes as a whole and to the fundamental principles underlying it. The original purpose of the hexagrams was to consult destiny. As divine beings do not give direct expression to their knowledge, a means had to be found by which they could make themselves intelligible. Suprahuman intelligence has from the beginning made use of three mediums of expression—men, animals, and plants, in each of which life pulsates in a different rhythm.
Chance came to be utilized as a fourth medium; the very absence of an immediate meaning in chance permitted a deeper meaning to come to expression in it. The oracle was the outcome of this use of chance.
>They invented the yarrow-stalk oracle in order to lend aid in a mysterious way to the light of the gods.
>To heaven they assigned the number three and to earth the number two; from these they computed the other numbers.
>They contemplated the changes in the dark and the light and established the hexagrams in accordance with them. They brought about movements in the firm and the yielding, and thus produced the individual lines.
>They put themselves in accord with tao and its power, and in conformity with this laid down the order of what is right. By thinking through the order of the outer world to the end, and by exploring the law of their nature to the deepest core, they arrived at an understanding of fate.
This first section refers to the Book of Changes as a whole and to the fundamental principles underlying it. The original purpose of the hexagrams was to consult destiny. As divine beings do not give direct expression to their knowledge, a means had to be found by which they could make themselves intelligible. Suprahuman intelligence has from the beginning made use of three mediums of expression—men, animals, and plants, in each of which life pulsates in a different rhythm.
Chance came to be utilized as a fourth medium; the very absence of an immediate meaning in chance permitted a deeper meaning to come to expression in it. The oracle was the outcome of this use of chance.
!!P38zFLDUYUh/x/40530338#40530462
6/14/2025, 6:55:18 PM
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