The Tao of Uncertainty

The following is a five part blog about the I Ching and its similarities with Quantum Mechanics. My interest in the I Ching reawaken again when I happened to read a copy of “The Tao of Chaos – DNA & The I Ching – Unlocking the Code of the Universe by Katya Walter, from the used book section at the Bodhi Tree in LA, It open up a deeper understanding and the I Ching and for the first time an ancient teaching was presented to me that was based upon a science. I was intrigued when I read the I Ching translated by Richard Wilhem and the foreword was written by Carl Jung. I had long been a fan of Jung’s and understood immediately that the I Ching philosophy had a profound connection with psychology.

The more I spent researching physics especially Quantum Mechanics I began to realize the concepts of the I Ching were very similar. This is not a new idea but the books I read on the subject missed the deeper meanings of the symbols of the I Ching. At first, I started out reading about the basic concepts of QM from Wikipedia, but grew to reviewing hours of video instruction and many books on the subject to try to distill its language into simple ideas I could understand. I even learned a bit of differential equations to understand how engineers use mathematical functions to graph chaotic behavior.

But in the back of my mind, I had this mystical understanding of the I Ching due to my taiji (tai chi) teacher telling me stories of private demonstrations his master would give to special groups who visited him from Taiwan. He would described amazing demonstrations of taiji sword and sticks, but he always alluded to a secret form of taiji that was only passed down within a small group of families that originated in ancient China. He said his teacher was taught from one of these special families. He once told me his master had the ability to point his finger at him which would immobilize his body. He also said that one could read the chi of his opponent when sparing accessing his true skill level and weaknesses. I never had a clear understanding of chi, but it was the same force that the Chinese had based acupuncture on.

The more I read about Quantum Mechanics, I realized the symbols and mathematics of the I Ching were based upon an scientific understandings that is only now being discovered. And if this is true, why is there no trace of this advance civilization except for these teachings. There is a deep mystery to the origins of the I Ching and it is one of the oldest of the classical Chinese texts. It is interesting that the only surviving artifact through the millennium from this ancient culture was its philosophy.

Those ideas that can be proven objectively are called science while those unproven are labeled philosophies. The I Ching falls in between these two categories and is able to bring back a sense of wisdom to science that goes beyond just a review of it classical concepts. When Quantum Mechanics and the philosophy of the I Ching are combined it gives a much richer picture of the nature of reality

Read More...