foresight/ insight

The ancient Chinese mind contemplates the cosmos in a way comparable to that of the modern physicist, who cannot deny that his model of the world is a decidedly psychophysical structure. The microphysical event includes the observer just as much as the reality underlying the I Ching comprises subjective, i.e., psychic conditions in the totality of the momentary situation. -Carl Jung

When I went into seclusion at the beginning of the New Year, one of the three books I brought with me was the I Ching or Book of Changes. It is 3,000 years old- the symbols even older, up to 5,000 years old- and, according to the translator of my book, has been used throughout this time "by seers, rulers and laymen alike to find solutions to problems of love and marriage, military strategy, career and matters of state."

I discovered the I Ching through Anna, who was amused by her mom's use of the book until she herself secretly took it from Mrs. H.'s shelf in their old manse in San Miguel, Bulacan, studied it, and used it to get answers to some questions. She was surprised by the uncanny relevance of the answers and decided to even ask it, "How will Voltaire do in life?"

We were in Baguio or Sagada sometime in the mid-90s when she shared the answer to that question with me. She may already have been AIESEC LCP, though I was not yet Kule EIC.

I felt a bit upset by this, but her reading of the solid and broken lines- the hexagrams- felt so right, so consistent with my truest, most private beliefs at the time that irritation quickly turned to wonder and amazement. The answer made such an impact on me that I still keep the piece of paper on which Anna wrote it. For more than a decade I've seen the reading come true or, more probably, I've chosen paths to make it come true.

There were several other instances when I've used the I Ching. I would borrow one of Boojie Basilio's English translations and toss peso coins to create the lines. When he saw that I was one of the few colleagues who didn't laugh at him for this practice, he gave me the simple translation that I keep with me today.

Like Jung, I use the ancient text mainly as a psychological tool to tap into the unconscious whenever I have mental blind spots or emotional knots: not so much to gain foresight, as for insight. The way the hexagrams work for me is similar to the effect of an interesting painting or a good line from a book or a song: they provide a structure around which random observations, thoughts, and feelings can wrap themselves and be seen more clearly by the conscious mind.

One of the most important principles of the I Ching is that one's circumstances are always changing- it's similar to the Filipino belief in the "gulong ng palad" (wheel of one's palm), whereby what goes down in time goes up, and vice-versa. One must therefore learn to adapt and be flexible, like our bamboo that bends and rises with the changing strength and direction of the winds.