Great Nature? Or? 

"The nine traditions of philosophy and the hundred schools of thought have all drawn upon the Yijing to promote their respective theories." -Huang Zongxi (1610-1695)      

     There are many answers to the question of how the Yijing works. Different people will find some explanations more plausible than others. While it doesn't really matter where you hang your hat philosophically to consult Yi, it is fascinating to learn what others think (or thought) about the inner workings of this ancient book. Here are a few short recaps of a little of that thinking. 

The Yijing offers a connection to one's unconscious mind. If indeed all things are connected, tossing coins with a question in mind can have only one result at one moment in time. The process allows one to turn off rationality and causality long enough to let the unconscious become visible. "Synchronicity" allows apparently non-causal events to bear vivid meaning for individuals. 
-Depth Psychologist C.G. Jung
 
The Book of Changes started as a divination manual concerning itself with the Bronze Age questions of kings-when to go to war, make alliances or hunt. Generations of philosophers and scholars have contributed to it since, adding their observations about the laws of change as they apply to humanity. Consulting it through random divination, with a concrete question, introduces a person gradually to the book's collected wisdom. It becomes, over time, a trusted friend and confidant.
     -Jack M. Balkin, auther of "The Laws of Change: I Ching and the Philosophy of Life" 
   
After long observation of the best teacher, Great Nature, the ancient Chinese discovered laws about Nature's seeming diversity. A significant realization was that the laws of Nature are also the laws of humanity. Harmony with Nature is the key to life. The line system of The Book of Changes allows a direct connection with what the ancients organized as a system to study and explain the way people and events develop. Using the book will lead people back to an understanding of and love for Nature and encourage them to live natural lives.           
     -Hua-Ching Ni, a prolific author on Taoist subjects in English, teaches traditional Chinese medicine and spiritual practices. 
 
"The sages and diviners who created the Yijing...recognized change and what we call chance as the work of the spirit, an individual encounter with reality. They called the basic flow of energy that shapes experience Dao, or Way, and realized that this Way expresses itself as symbols...we can use these symbols or images to be in harmony with the time."
     Stephen Karcher, Ph.D., is a Yijing scholar, writer and diviner who has pioneered the use of depth psychology in divination, He includes the myths, gods and demons of ancient China in his divination practice and research.