The Eleventh Wing

an exposition of the dynamics of I Ching for now

Plot

Excerpt from the Foreward by Stanley "One of The Eleventh Wing's chief virtues is its discussion of causality and acausality. It is tempting to proclaim that everything is the result of cause and effect, or to dogmatically assert that all events are synchronous. However, an individual's freedom would disappear under both circumstances. If everything dates back to a 'first cause,' fatalism would be the most reasonable attitude to adopt. Yet, if everything is completely random, one's actions would never produce results and a person could not participate in the complexities of change. Only a universe which holds the potential for both causal and acausal events provides intelligent entities, such as mankind, with opportunities to fully participate in the flow of events. The studentof I Ching knows when to drift in his canoe down the primordial stream, when to steer his canoe gently so as to take advantage of the current, and when to row his craft energetically to avoid a mishap. Those who do not row at all find themselves beset with misfortune as often as those who refuse to adapt to the underlying current and attempt to row continuously." This book will be most useful to serious students of the I Ching.