Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Is God trying to tell me something?

I've started a new approach to studying the I-Ching. The book is divided up by 64 hexagrams. Reading it from cover to cover is kinda daunting and discouraging. I've decided to start studying it by picking a hexagram via a Perl script to pick a random number, then study that hexagram:

arthur@cygnus:~$ cat bin/ichingpicker.pl
#!/usr/bin/perl
$hexagram = int(rand(65));
print "Random Hexagram: $hexagram \n";
arthur@cygnus:~$

If I've studied it before, I'll do a quick review from my new set of notes, and move on. The notes are posted on this site, of course.

Whats odd, is that I always clear my mind and say a little prayer before I execute the script. I tell the Lord that if he wants to teach me something, thats cool, but if not, I'll just study the hexagram's wisdom for that its worth. Let the book fall open where it will, so to speak.

I'm sure its just a coincidence, but the first number to come out of the script was 50. 50 is The Cauldron, a hexagram covering nourishing the spirit and refining the self. Now, the script spit out 41, a hexagram covering reduction or simplicity.

Like I said, I'm sure its just a coincidence, but its still creeps me out a bit.

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