As the owner of over a dozen English and several Chinese language versions of the I Ching, it is natural to question the unique qualities in each edition. It should be noted that no claim is made to have more than dipped into the majority of these editions. Sometimes a particular volume makes an irresistible claim for serious attention. Rarely is the effort unrewarded.
     The I Ching is probably the most enigmatic and profound of all the world’s great classics. Ostensibly and devoutly regarded by many as a book of divination, it is in reality much more.
     Tentative reflection over a number of decades suggests to this reader that it embodies the major inspiration for the remarkable Chinese instinct for holistic and organic science and medicine, is the central source of the world’s most reflective and strategic political culture, and is the essential foundation of China’s two uniquely profound and powerful spiritual traditions, Confucianism and Daoism.
     It achieves this authority both through a continually accumulating body of literary commentary and a remarkable mathematical formulation of 64 hexagrams that give rise to an almost infinite variety of possibilities. Moreover, ultimately, it offers no clear and defined answers but only an invitation and some guidance to reflect more deeply on life’s perils and possibilities. All this is enshrined in a sense of human life that respects and celebrates the eternal archetypal values of human existence, totally free of any of the follies of contemporary progress and scientific hubris.
     The Authentic I Ching: The Essential Guide to Reading and Using the I Ching is a worthy, one might suggest essential, addition to any I Ching library. In distinguishing their book from hundreds of others, the authors explain that there is little understanding in the West of other than the Classical Method of divination. They add explorations and explanations of the Mei Hua and the Na Jia methods.
     It is works like this edition of the I Ching that illuminate for the exploring Westerner the remarkably different, and in many respects superior, Chinese intellectual universe. This is characterised by a never ending exploration of the correspondences, resonances and inter-connections that inform organic life and that can inspire an holistic understanding of the human universe.
     These qualities, which can be found in less sophisticated forms in many local cultures, have been left in ruins in many parts of the world by the intrusion of Western progress and Newtonian science. The growing popularity of the I Ching amongst many circles in the West reflects the reality that it offers a much richer, more subtle and infinitely deeper approach to the world we live in than can be found today in any accessible alternative. This holds true wherever one searches in ancient or contemporary thought.
     The authors offer a number of case studies that serve the invaluable purpose of familiarising the reader with both the technicalities and the intuition that must be brought to bear on any divination. In this, they provide a powerful reminder of how the contemporary West has left itself debilitated before many of the less obvious forces of nature by the application of narrow and shallow forms of rationality or logic.
     Readings of the I Ching provide endless subtle reminders of the folly inherent in contemporary economies. The attempted universal application of abstract rational theory has devastated physical and spiritual well-being in both economically backward and advanced environments. Most remarkably, the principle of leaving the critical allocation of scarce resources to marketplaces dominated by narrow profit maximising corporations is devastating the world’s wealthiest economies.
     The I Ching has not always protected China from similar end of empire follies but its processes of divination have provided a stimulus for endlessly reviewing behaviour and renewing wisdom. It is not implausible to regard it as the source of the longevity of Chinese civilisation.
     The Authentic I Ching: The Essential Guide to Reading and Using the I Ching demands much of a reader and is unlikely to easily or quickly yield up new insight and understanding. It does offer, however, a tool with which to steadily refresh one’s way of understanding the world and broaden one’s perception of the forces that work to determine future events. It also offers an invaluable insight into the character and spirit of the people who are reshaping both the global marketplace and the global order of the 21st century.