“I saw this pattern, and it was everywhere. We can't see it but we're all trapped inside these strange, repeating loops. Somehow I saw it in the mirror. Just a flicker... and suddenly I understood... For the first time I felt real purpose.” --Morpheus, The Matrix Resurrections

Dolphin? Are you some New-Agey Flipper fan?

A world of difference separates us from those who authored the Zhouyi, the core text of the Yijing (I Ching). Yet our phenomenologies, being human, must coincide. The Dazhuan says that it resulted from observing and correlating patterns in life and nature. It was compiled at an early stage of written language, and isn't overtly concerned with self-aware thought, though absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

It does represent the kind of information people sought to preserve, which I assume to be the function of progressive orders of information (the yao lines) with regard to specific logical propositions^1 (the nascent hexagrams). I concur with those lore-steeped practitioners who claim that the Zhouyi is neither illogical, nor haphazardly organized. It is in fact diabolical. Its abstraction is evidence of how wisdom was conceived of by its authors. Numerous variants and Yi-like texts were written contemperaneously, suggesting to me that a very active and fertile intellectual community over time developed it.

My proposal is a hermeneutic, for the hexagram structure as a dialectic format drawn from observing cognitive growth, or learning, in--and this is important--both humans and animals. Mammals mainly, which funny enough, may support 'dolphin' as a gloss for tún yú (豚魚, separately 'swine fish'^2) in line 61.0. Their intelligence is similar to ours, demonstrably and with indication from neuroscience.^3

Make it quick with the science, Poindexter.

Trained dolphins have been known to invent new tricks when faced with a significant denial of reward from the trainer, and this behavior has been reproduced under controlled conditions. A dolphin will take the cognitive "leap" of surmising that the trainer wants it not only to perform tricks, but invent them.^4 Interestingly, its trust in the trainer is essential to taking this step, as the experimenter had to give unearned fish occasionally to maintain the relationship. I don't think it's too far-fetched to suggest that a similar learning pattern between dolphins and people, both highly evolved mammals, could have been observed by those whose livelihoods depended on close, participative involvement with the natural environment.

Fishers who found they could coax these creatures into performing a simple trick for fish, may have been awed and delighted to see more complex displays, from dolphins intent to wangle a meal on slow fishing days (pet owners can attest to their animals' persistence and ingenuity in this). They would have been perceived to have intelligence, I think, and creativity. To think like humans.

Dolphins denied treats for tricks come up with tricks of their own, actively reorganizing contextual cues to redefine their roles within it. Furthermore, I find that a similar impetus toward recontextualizing information, specifically from the second to the fifth line, is identifiable consistently in the structure of a hexagram. The dragon (creative force) faces diminishing returns (01.3) against contextual cues that require embracing uncertainty (01.4), and goes by metaphoric extension from field to flight in each. Taking a hexagram's fifth line (outer purpose) as a recontextualization of its second line (individual purpose), the "dolphin's benefit," its human-like ability to recontextualize information--to learn in a self-aware sense, would be an appropriate "inner truth" to the text. The capacity for self-aware truth unites our speceis. Submerged dragon indeed.^5

Uh, so where are you going with this?

As a learning theory, lines one and two are analogous to stimulus and response. Lines three and four are inner and outer cognitive stressors that motivate recontextualization, and taken together we would call it a dilemma (the dragon's dilemma in Hexagram 01 being a seminal pattern). Each hexagram is then a model for creative problem-solving^6 within its logical context,^7 or "time," to use the Tuanzhuan's term. To say "the time of x is great" is no less than saying "the principles of x are of great importance."

The changes recognize stochasticity, which in the Zhouyi is the flexibility to redefine context. Epistemology then is what changes (if we're to look for a ding an dich), our adaptability mirrored in the divination process. And the most stochastic, or unpredictable, beasties of all are us. Its statements show situationally motivated thought, common to humans and animals, and do not require the moral overlay that people inevitably add to the lines' effectively ethical orientations.^8 Wang Bi observed its situational ethics when describing yao lines as individuals in agreement or at cross-purposes,^9 and took the reflexive next step of attributing a (self aware or reflective) mental activity to lines' subjects--an action save perhaps for cetaceans, developed in our groovy frontal lobes. And a very human tendency, with innumerable bright moments, and many foibles.

To conclude, I think the Zhouyi may describe the advance of human intelligence in relation to its authors' closest ecological companions. In its systemic wisdom, it is a guide for us beasties that reflect. And in its remarkable use of media as message, a literal book of intelligence. English Yixue seems to be without a both comprehensive and critical hermeneutic that credits our predecessors' conceptual sophistication. A consequence of Occam's Razor, but by using an inductive model, I hope to cut through the Adornment only closely enough to examine the form.

Processus est processus pulchritudinis.

Len Vischer, 12/24

Notes

(1) Per use of Wang Bi's controlling principle (n9 p. 25) as adapted to Bertrand Russel's theory of logical types, a means of categorization described by psychological anthropologist Gregory Bateson in Steps to an Ecology of Mind, p. 279-83. The logical type of 'chair' can't be a category within itself, it includes everything that serves a chair's function. If you hit someone with it, it assumes the logical type of 'bludgeon' along with sticks and clubs. The 'proposition' is the first yao line as a fundamental truth, from which the rest reasonably follow. If this were systems theory (lol it is, thinking in terms of process!), line six would be an ungoverned process, i.e. runaway. Inauspicious sixth lines are self-defeating paths, though each sixth line exhausts its logical type.

(2) I CHING / YI JING: Transcription, Gloss, Translation. By Gregory C. Richter

For uses of 'dolphin' see John Blofeld, I CHING: The Book of Change, p. 204; Hua-Ching Ni, The Book of Changes and the Unchanging Truth, p. 587; and Ritsema & Sabatini, The Original I Ching Oracle or the Book of Changes, PDF edition p. 1093, which glosses as "Hog Fish" and defines as aquatic mammals.

(3) "The neocortex of many cetaceans is home to elongated spindle neurons that, prior to 2019, were known only in hominids.[28] In humans, these cells are thought to be involved in social conduct, emotions, judgment and theory of mind.[29] Cetacean spindle neurons are found in areas of the brain homologous to where they are found in humans, suggesting they perform a similar function.[30]" Wikipedia retr. 11/25/24

(4) Bateson Steps p. 276-8. Bateson's subsequent learning theory provides the basis for nos. 1-5 in the dialectic outline of n7. Pages 248-9 outline Learning I, II, and III, represented by the dialectic's 1st, 2nd, and 5th elements respectively. He develops these in the human context on pages 287-306.

(5) The dragon motif may be a later addition to the text, Geoffrey Redmond points out in The I Ching (Book of Changes): A Critical Translation of the Ancient Text, p. 67. Dolphins have evolved back from land to water, cyclically re-submerging themselves. Rudimentary examination can at least reveal skeletal or other resemblances to land mammals. But who doesn't like dragons?

(6) Bateson associated response to a dilemma (defined technically as a double bind, associated with nos. 3 & 4 in n7 below) with either creativity, or in the worst extremes, pathological acts (Steps p. 206-12). In latter instances, trust is noticeably strained in the communication structure.

Our purposive reasoning he argued, inevitably leads to a tension between purpose, and the contextual reality of which we can be only partially aware. "Lack of systemic wisdom," he wrote, "is always punished" (Ibid. p. 440). His functional definition of wisdom was recognition of "circuits of contingency," and he saw art and dreams as a correctives for our understandings of them (Ibid. p. 144-47).

A circuit of contingency may be said to be completed betwen each correspondent (equivalent lines connecting two hexagrams) line pair in the Zhouyi, lateral to the hexagram with its circuitous correlate line pairs. We might even compare line six to circuitry's reverse current event, its logical reversal illustrated comprehensively in each hexagram's sixth line. This comparison does not suggest the Zhouyi is based on circuitry; it situates the authors' perspective between the micro and macro in their observance of process.

(7) Formally: (1) Establish a logical type, a condition for learning; (2) Show the apropriate response, or initial learning; (3) Show internal stressors to initial learning; (4) Show external (contextual) stressors to initial learning; (5) Show the required creative resolution; and (6) Show the process taken to its logical end. This model dovetails somewhat with a tradition of describing the hexagrams as developing situations, outlined briefly by Richard J. Smith in Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World, p. 29.

For an example, Hex. 16 (Enthusiasm) offers a challenging application: Line one proposes Enthusiasm to be fundamentally personal. In two, we monumentalize Enthusiasm (2nd phrase maybe "not passing in a day"?); likewise my bookcase is a shrine to ideas that interest me. In line three, we can idolize and lose our minds. Line four, circuitous to the first, shows that Enthusiasm is socially motivated and maintained, which creates contextual tension. The creative resolution is line five, as a metaphor for a cheerless person; it reclaims the autonomy of line two, but integrates contextual awareness (thus mastery, maybe the start of wisdom). Line six watches the process and says simply that interests fade; it's not wrong. Enthusiasm becomes apathy in the end. The dilemma, we might say, is how to be oneself while following the crowd. Fads & fashions apparently weren't unknown to the Zhou.

(8) These orientations have been observed to complement each other in pairs, per Bradford Hatcher's fan yao (reverse line) hermeneutic in THE BOOK OF CHANGES: Yijing, Word By Word; PDF edition, Book II p. 13.

(9) The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi. Translated by Richard John Lynn

Hi everyone,

This is a compendium of quotes from many wisdom traditions. I've been compiling over some years, initially to help with my own practice and motivation. Before anything else, I should emphasize it's free, and doesn't fall under rule 3. Especially because most of the contents are not things I've written, but rather, simply organized in a somewhat "logical" way. My new account is just for anonymity.

Some years ago I shared a much shorter version of this on another subreddit, and people appreciated it, so I expanded it with the intention to share. You can download it in PDF and EPUB formats: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/u8pig2mn98p6rhw80p9nj/AFVAfdO4YJYvcUh8BBgtPCc?rlkey=njq230ho4dxwu8ajea77mhiak&st=qugryitn&dl=0

This description alone might suffice to justify my sharing it here, given this subreddit's orientation towards unifying different traditions. I heard of this community when u/UnKn0wU publicized it in another one, maybe it was r/occult. I enjoy the attempts to unify different perspectives, finding the common ground...

If this piques your interest, the book's introduction and the table of contents do a better job at explaining the contents.

I hope you enjoy it!

Introduction to Runner’s High

This post will focus on explaining how the term Runner’s High that is experienced by people who run/jog is another way you can experience your vital energy, the energy from your Spirit (soul/astral body/etheric body/energetic body/emotional body/true self). This is to help spread this information and help everyone learn about the different spiritual/biological discoveries, usages and benefits that were documented on the activation of this type of energy.

This presents to you an opportunity to empower yourself with your knowledge of the Runner’s High by gaining the ability to really tap into all the reported, documented and written spiritual/ biological usages that are said to be achievable with your conscious cultivation of your Vital Energy.

What does Runner’s high mean/Represents:

• Runner’s High is a deeply euphoric state that is experienced during or following any intense exercise where you push yourself past your limit.

• It is commonly known to be experienced by people who run or jog daily as they push themselves beyond their limit. This makes their body release hormones called endorphins that help relieve pain, reduce stress and improve their sense of well-being, helping them go on for hours, almost effortlessly.

• This state is also reported to have its users experience physical goosebumps mixed with the emotion of Euphoria that is the same one present when anyone experiences Frisson from a song they really like/moves them.

• That same energy can be and is activated/drawn from your body when you get chills/goosebumps from an positive external or internal stimuli.

• Your vital energy activates goosebumps/chills not the other way around. You can learn how to separate that extremely pleasant energy from the physical reaction of goosebumps and eventually learn how to activate only that Euphoric energy part whenever you please, feel it wherever or everywhere on yourself and for the duration you choose.

• Experiencing the Runner’s High state is equivalent to experiencing what can be considered your "Spiritual Energy" because your spirit (soul/astral body/etheric body/ energetic body/emotional body/true self) is made of that same energy in motion that activates when you experience it.

• In its neutral state, you unconsciously draw that energy with your breath, the foods/liquids you consume and especially the thoughts you think, the actions you do and the visual content that you watch either emits or draws in to amplify your base of this BioElectric Energy.

Here's a simple way that's explains how you can become aware of your Spiritual Energy, it is that extremely comfortable Euphoric wave that can most easily be recognized as present while you experience goosebumps/chills from a positive external or internal situations/ stimuli like listening to a song you really like, thinking about a lover, watching a moving movie scene, striving, feeling thankful, praising God, praying, etc.

• That Euphoric wave is the animating energy behind life itself, Other cultures that have experienced in other ways with this energy found their own usages for it and then documented their results as they coined different terms for it.

• It was discovered that this energy can be used in many beneficial ways.

Some which are more biological like Unblocking your lymphatic system/Meridians, Feel euphoric/ecstatic on your whole body, Guide your Spiritual chills anywhere in your body, Control your temperature, Give yourself goosebumps, Dilate your pupils, Regulate your heartbeat, Counteract stress/anxiety in your body with this energy, Internally Heal yourself, access your Hypothalamus on demand,

and I discovered other usages which are more spiritual like Accurately use your Psychic senses (clairvoyance, clairaudience, spirit projection, higher-self guidance, vision from your third eye)with this energy, Managing your Auric field, Manifestation, Energy absorption from any source and even more to come.

If you're interested in learning how to use this subtle energy activation for these ways, here are three written tutorials going more in-depth and explicitly revealing how you can do just that.

Street View and the Indian Government?

The theory begins with Google and its CEO, whose ties to the Indian government spark suspicion. Is it merely coincidence that Street View cars are multiplying in the West, silently mapping every corner of our world? And why does the sound of children’s laughter seem to fade from parks?

Leaked patents hint at unsettling technologies—microwave radiation altering DNA and fertility. Hidden articles in obscure corners of the internet whisper of a link between these vehicles and declining populations in the West, while India’s population surges unchecked.

Could this imbalance pave the way for something darker? The echoes of the 2010 Street View scandal only deepen the mystery.

What are your thoughts on duality?