The I CHING through Self-Organization

The I CHING through Self-Organization Krystyna C. Laycraft1 and Bogusia Gierus2 1 Center for CHAOS Studies, Canada; www.krystynalaycraft.academia.edu 2 University of Calgary, Canada; https://www.nucleuslearning.com Abstract During the workshop, we introduce the main components of the I Ching (Yin and Yang, 8 trigrams, 64 hexagrams) and self-organization as one of the main concepts of Chaos Theory through brief introductions, discussions, and a variety of interactive activities. To illustrate the hexagrams of the I Ching philosophy, we use K.C. L’s collages. Then we propose that hexagrams could be represented by self-organizing, qualitatively distinct, relatively stable, and coherent structures. They are characterized by a distinctive set of forces represented by interacting trigrams. Introduction In this workshop, we introduce the main components of the I Ching: the ancient concepts of Yin and Yang, the eight trigrams as forces of nature, and the sixty-four hexagrams as different patterns of behavior. Next, we present one of the main concepts of Chaos Theory - self-organization. The I Ching philosophy and Chaos Theory are based on observations of nature. Their central themes are the continuous change and transformation from chaos to order, order to chaos, etc. Finally, we analyze the emergence of hexagrams through self-organization and propose that hexagrams could be represented by qualitatively distinctive, relatively stable, and coherent structures expressing unique patterns of behavior. As we guide the participants through various interactive activities designed to assist in learning and understanding the trigrams and hexagrams, the participants will embody their deep connection of human issues with the natural world. The I CHING “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” [1]. Carl G. Jung The I Ching is the most significant Chinese classic ever written and became the foundation of the Taoist and Confucian philosophies [2]. It has influenced fields as varied as mathematics, science, medicine, martial arts, philosophy, history, literature, art, ethics, military affairs, and religion. In China and East Asia, it has been the most consulted of all books. In the West, philosophers, psychologists, writers, scientists, and other thinkers have appreciated it for many years. The following are a few examples of thinkers who included the idea of the I Ching in their work. German mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646 – 1716) translated the I Ching binary code, represented by Yang and Yin, into the modern binary system as one and zero. Using Leibniz’s thinking, the I Ching uses a complex binary code to form eight trigrams and sixty-four hexagrams. Therefore, through Leibniz’s binary systems, the I Ching played an essential role in developing the information age [3]. Danish physicist and philosopher Niels Bohr (1885-1962) used the yin-yang symbol for his motto, “opposites are complementary.” In physics, complementarity is a conceptual aspect of quantum mechanics that Niels Bohr regarded as an essential feature of the theory. Bohr stated that a complete knowledge of phenomena on an atomic scale requires a description of wave and particle properties. But it is impossible to observe both the wave and particle aspects simultaneously [4]. Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) was deeply inspired by the I Ching, translated by his friend Richard Wilhelm. Therefore, the I Ching significantly influenced the development of Jung’s analytical psychology by facilitating the formation of his central concepts of synchronicity and individuation [5]. The Principle of Yin-Yang The I Ching’s fundamental building blocks are the ancient concepts of Yin and Yang, two opposing forces that are also complementary. Their constant interactions constitute the forces and produce change and development. The physical manifestations of Yin and Yang are everywhere. They are feminine and masculine, life and death, winter and summer, bright and dark, moving and static, weak and strong, and so forth. Activity 1: Learning about Yang and Yin concepts. A game in pairs: the first person starts a characteristic of Yang, and the second person responds with the characteristic of Yin, and so on. Next, participants are asked to share their experiences by describing their home, vacation, or work using Yang and Yin. Trigrams As the thinking matured over centuries, this basis of Yang/Yin polarity developed into a combination of Yang and Yin in trigrams, representing eight forces in nature: universal opposites (Heaven and Earth), organic opposites (Water and Fire), impulsive opposites (Thunder and Wind), and elemental opposites (Mountain and Lake). They must be understood as metaphors and ascriptions given to objects [6]. • Heaven (awareness) symbolizes forcefulness, perseverance, power, inspiration, originality, and vitality. • Earth (will) symbolizes calmness, responsiveness, acceptance, security, adaptability, openness, and kindness. • Water (soul) symbolizes vitality, journey, adaptability, fluidity, courage, difficulty, uncertainty, anxiety, fear, and troubles. • Fire (thinking) symbolizes intelligence, illumination, passion, clarity, liberation, insight, and attachment. • Thunder (spirit) symbolizes awakening, excitement, stimulation, and renewal. • Wind (sensing) symbolizes gentleness, changeability, bending, politeness, courtesy, and interaction. • Mountain (body) symbolizes rest, stillness, inner reserve, silence, concentration, contemplation, deep thinking, and wisdom. • Lake (feeling) symbolizes serenity, tranquility, calmness, peace, charm, joy, and grace. Activity 2: Learning about the eight forces of nature. Self-reflection (moment of silence): To deepen the connection with nature, immerse yourself in nature; in river, in the sky, on earth…, and imagine your experience, your feelings, your senses… Be a part of it, be aware, feel that you belong to all that… Working in pairs: ask each other: what is your life experience with the natural forces? Our world is constantly changing as an effect of natural forces. The most important facility of human beings is the ability to change and adapt to the environment. Still, we need to pay attention to the natural reactions from our inner/subjective world. “If you lose relationship with nature, you lose relationship with humanity.” Krishnamurti, 1983 Hexagrams To achieve even greater diversity, these eight trigrams are arranged in pairs to form sixty-four hexagrams. These sixty-four hexagrams represent possible human situations and different conditions of change. Each hexagram has 6 lines piled upward from the bottom to the top by a broken line (Yin) or solid line (Yang), manifesting the flow of time. In other words, the six lines of the hexagram represent the development of the situation in time and space. The first, second, and third lines constitute a lower trigram, and the fourth, fifth, and sixth lines compose an upper trigram. The lower/internal trigram depicts the inner world/subjectivity, and the upper/external trigram represents the outer world/objectivity. The lower trigram is where all the imagination and visualization occur, mediated with the consciousness through the mind/heart; the materialization occurs and eventually leads to the actual manifestation in the external world [7]. Figure 1: Hexagram 1. Creativity (Heaven over Heaven). The I Ching describes the cosmos as an organic process that resembles a great flow in which “all of the parts of the entire cosmos belong to one organic whole” and all the parts “interact as participants in one spontaneously self-generating process” [8]. In this cosmic flow, there is no distinction between the natural realm and the human realm, the inner world, and the outer world. Everything is part of a totality, a group dance that never stops [9]. Self-Organization During the last twenty years, chaos theory's application in psychology and the life sciences has grown enormously [10]. Chaos theory studies open, complex, and dynamic systems that constantly interact with and adjust to their environments. They are changing, growing, learning, and evolving. Chaotic systems exhibit essential extreme sensitivity to their initial conditions. This phenomenon has been popularly called the "butterfly effect” [11]. Slight differences in the starting points of systems make substantial differences in their outcomes. In chaotic systems, everything is connected to everything else through negative and positive feedback [12]. Negative feedback is the type that keeps things in check and is responsible for the stability of a system. Processes characterized by positive feedback, where "more" leads to more and "less" to less, are important in accounting for escalating patterns of system change. In nonlinear dynamic systems, abrupt changes in behavior can be observed through positive feedback. These changes, called phase transitions or bifurcations, occur when system orderliness breaks down, sensitivity to perturbations increases, and new patterns of organization rapidly self-amplify. At this point, the disorganized system either disintegrates into chaos or leaps to a new higher order of organization. Through this means, order arises spontaneously through self-organization [13]. Self-organization explains the process of a spontaneous emergence of new patterns in systems. These can be either, physical, chemical [14], biological [15], or psychological [16]. Self-organization was studied by the German theoretical physicist Herman Haken in the early 1970s. He introduced the word synergetic, which means joint action. Haken understood self-organization to be coherent, collective behavior of all system elements [17]. The Russian- Belgian physical chemist Ilya Prigogine also studied the process of selforganization in complex chemical and physical systems. He introduced the concept of dissipative structure, which must interact with their environment continually, maintaining a flow of energy in and out of the system [18]. Think, for example, of a whirlpool or a hurricane, which require a continuous flow of matter and energy to maintain themselves. The same can be said for living organisms. Prigogine stressed the importance of openness and strong thermal instability of the system in the process of the formation of dissipative structures. As Prigogine (1984) wrote: "At equilibrium, molecules behave as essentially independent entities; they ignore one another. However, non-equilibrium wakes them up and introduces a coherence quite foreign to equilibrium. This is the concept of "order through fluctuations""[19]. In the state of non-equilibrium, the rapid flow of energy links its components into more ordered and complex patterns. Complexity can be characterized by differentiation and integration. Differentiation refers to various components that behave differently, while integration refers to the links between a system's components that lead to order. Complexity arises when both differentiation and integration are present. It can be said that complexity is situated between order and disorder, where the system finds itself at the "edge of chaos." In this state, the system is displaying intelligent behavior in adapting to environmental stimuli. A complex system is capable of change, adaptation, and growth [20]. Hexagrams through Self-Organization In the I Ching, each hexagram represents a qualitatively distinct, relatively stable, and coherent structure characterized by a distinctive set of forces represented by two trigrams that interact, creating a unique pattern of behavior. The sixty-four hexagrams describe human life, such as overcoming difficulties, breaking bad habits or desires, being in danger, immersing in solitary contemplation, making decisions, experiencing joy or sadness, being creative, and many more. Not only the trigrams as such but every single line in the hexagram, its quality, its position, its correspondence, and its relations are of great importance. Through self-organization, they create different patterns of the 64 hexagrams. For example, the hexagrams with the thunder as the inner trigram can be identified as positive feedback, where thunder symbolizes awakening, excitement, stimulation, and renewal. For example, the hexagram 42. Increase (Wind over Thunder) expresses how the wind and thunder enforce each other; therefore, their combination gives the idea of strong and confident action. While the hexagram 51. The Arousing/Shock (Thunder over Thunder) represents forceful upward movement. It also means beginning anew, life reawakening. Figure 2: The hexagrams: 42. Increase and 51. The Arousing/Shock. The hexagrams with the mountain as the outer trigram can be identified as negative feedback, where the mountain symbolizes rest, stillness, inner reserve, concentration, silence, and contemplation. For example, the hexagram 26. Holding Firm (Mountain over Heaven) expresses inner strength and outer stillness, the hexagram 41. Decrease (Mountain over Lake) means letting go of what is unnecessary and self-discipline, and the hexagram 52. Keeping Still (Mountain over Mountain) symbolizes stability and calmness. Figure 3: The hexagrams: 26-Holding Firm, 41- Decrease, and 52- Keeping Still. The hexagrams with the water as the inner trigram can be identified as chaotic states, where water symbolizes an unstable system, fluidity, difficulty, uncertainty, anxiety, and troubles. The hexagram 29. The Abysmal (Water over Water) means plunging into danger. The danger here is an objective situation, so we must adjust. While the hexagram 59. Dispersion (Wind over Water) expresses a situation where the wind blows over water and disperses it into foam and mist. Figure 4. The Hexagrams: 29. The Abysmal and 59. Dispersion. There are hexagrams that represent a more ordered state such as the hexagram 15. Modesty (Earth over Mountain) that underlies sincere moral conduct, the hexagram 22. Grace (Mountain over Fire) expresses any union to be well-ordered and pleasing and not disordered and chaotic, and the hexagram 58. The Joyous (Lake over Lake) that refreshes and rejoices all life, based on inner harmony and authenticity. Finally, the hexagrams like 19. Approach (Earth over Lake), 24. Return/ Turning Point (Earth over Thunder), and 46. Pushing Upward (Earth over Wood) represent a favorable time of change and phase transition from disorder to order. The hexagram 19. Approach/ Becoming Great represents favourable time conditions as, after the winter solstice, when the light power begins to ascend again. In humans’ cases, we become like nature at the beginning of spring: hopeful, flourishing, and able to move forward. The hexagram 24. Return/Turning Point suggests an awareness of renewed vitality, represented by the active thunder over the life-sleeping earth. It is a part of cyclical changes that are the rules in nature and lives. By understanding them, we can work with them instead of against them. The hexagram 46. Pushing Upward is associated with the effort as young trees grow within the earth. This indicates that willpower in harmony with time makes a vertical ascent possible. Figure 6: The Hexagrams; 19. Approach, 24. Return/Turning Point, and 46. Pushing Upward. Activity 3: Participants interpret the description of a hexagram identified by using 3 coins. Individual activity: Participants will be asked to sketch a specific hexagram, describe the inner and outer trigrams and how they are in relation to each other and identify the state of the hexagram (chaotic, orderly, transition). Partner activity: Participants will apply the hexagram to their own experience and share their ideas with each other. Summary In the workshop, we present our primary attempt to express the I Ching’s hexagrams by applying the main concepts of Chaos theory. The 64 hexagrams represent the different states, patterns, or behaviors that emerge spontaneously as a function of the inner dynamics of nonlinear interactions between the system’s components (yin and yang). Through them, we can interpret the changes and events of human life and their world. So, they are psychological experiences determined by the interaction of objective events with the subjective/psychic states of the person. Acknowledgments The included images of hexagrams are all been created by myself (K.C. Laycraft) [21]. References [1] Jung, C.G. Foreword. The I Ching or Book of Changes, The Richard Wilhelm Translation rendered into English by Cary F. Baynes. Bollingen Series XIX. Princeton University Press, 1977, p. xxiv. [2] The I Ching or Book of Change, The Richard Wilhelm Translation rendered into English by Cary F. Baynes. Bollingen Series XIX, Princeton University Press, 1977. [3] Maitre, M-J. 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