Buddy
The Living Force
monotonic said:I had the idea that the I Ching was something like a mathematical list of all the situations a person could be in, corresponding to the number of influences that can affect us in our lives.
My idea is that the numbers relevant to I Ching are just the mathematical boundaries or ways to separate the influences that are most present in specific situations. Personally, I don't see a direct correlation between the math and specific situations, or any way to make direct correlations, but then, what I don't see ATM is not necessarily relevant, of course.
monotonic said:Would it be possible, to take G's 48 "influences" or whatnot and try to name them and ascribe them to experiences and situations?
My first reaction is 'yes', but I'm not sure how I would proceed with that. I think I'm missing the obvious, in that G's 48 represent some laws of physics we may already be familiar with and to which we're maybe not giving enough attention. After all, there are discoveries in physics we are able to take for granted today that weren't known in G's time. That's similar to how ideas that seemed magical and profound when the TAO was written might come across as commonplace wisdom to some people in today's time.
monotonic said:If nothing else, then perhaps we could try to use what we know to reverse-engineer divination techniques?
Do you know of any esoteric divination techniques with a proven track record with respect to specific outcomes?
monotonic said:AFAIK, divination relies on dowsing-type stuff, IE the subconscious, pendulums, dice/coin throwing, random/chaotic processes and whatnot, and I don't think we could separate this from divining. But, perhaps this "sacred math" was used to construct the "map" which is dowsed, and if the map were memorized it may help give us the potential, with careful observation, to see the influences acting in real-time.
This reminds me of BaGua I Ching and the Feng shui overlay map, but it's all still mysterious to me. I do believe that reality is quantum in nature and that quantum reality is best expressed in general terms ("reality is generality" where and when the generality is accurate) but even the mathematical precision of probability theory still results in predictions of a probability rather than a specific outcome, so, to my perception there's still a gap to cross before divination techniques can have maximum utility.
Would you agree that there is a kind of practical foresight that is natural for humans and if it were unblocked people would rely on that instead of external forms? If there is such a thing, then it would be more beneficial for the general run of humanity to throw away divination techniques for now and concentrate on cleaning their machines, wouldn't it?
For instance, here's two examples:
1) We know a lot about how the dietary experiment helps get rid of brain fog and similar phenomena and improves thought clarity. We have statements from forum members to that effect. What if some of this healthy intervention results in a proper movement of glutamate and magnesium into and out of an ion channel (the NMDA receptor) on a cell where Ca2+ and Na+ going into a cell and K+ coming out of the cell needs to happen naturally and unimpeded?
This is an oversimplification, but the basic idea is that the NMDA receptor functions as a "molecular coincidence detector" in humans and in mouse brains. Experimentation with mice have already fully shown the NMDA receptor's unique property for learning and memory. Enhanced memory is the most exciting thing to me, but there are other benefits. Specifically the mice studies involved at least seven different memory tests which include novel object recognition memory, contextual and cue fear memory, fear extinction learning, spatial maze, spatial working memory (which has been another of your interests) and more to boot.
Also noteworthy, several follow-up studies not only confirmed the original findings but also show that the mice continued to outperform age-matched controls - even at advanced ages - leading to speculation about implications for human Alzheimer's condition and mild cognitive impairment.
Source: Basic Neurochemistry, Eighth Edition: Principles of Molecular, Cellular, and Medical Neurobiology, pg 969-71 for the specific relevant statements and Mae-Wan Ho's work in quantum biology for the deeper context related to human physiology.
2) Do you recall that SoTT was created because it seems people can't remember what happened from one day, week, month or year to another? What's the point of that kind of memory? To be able to hold history in mind long enough to spot, not just simple patterns, but for "coincidence detection", e.g., seeing super patterns or meta-patterns in play so that you can experience a kind of projection of what's developing (coming) and maybe a little bit of time to prepare. This capacity scales to context just like any geometric fractal, cognitive algorithm or feedback loop and can be immediately useful in one's own local context - such as one's wage-driven work or occupation. For example: catching a glimpse of a certain paradigm or economic model changing allows you time to change with it so you don't get stuck with unsaleable inventory, for example.
What has all this to do with Energy and Structure? Not sure yet, but it seems related to an interest in divination. Didn't Gurdjieff say a good businessman can see the future out of necessity?