The word yi in the Yi Ching’s title means unpredictable change. We experience yi when chaos irrupts and unmoors what we had taken for granted. Rapid change outstrips the capacities of life to adapt. Corrupt leadership and great suffering increase as the willingness to harm for self-benefit escalates. The chaos dissolves the very structure and organization of life on Earth and of human society and institutions. Even the most privileged within the unequal Western culture will experience severe dangers as the chaos strips away their privileges, wealth, and power.
Those longing for what Western capitalism and culture promises will quickly dismiss Yi Ching as yet another foolish spiritualist superstition. The Yi Ching speaks to those desperately longing to know how to further life on Earth. The Yi Ching steers us the through the destructive chaos of overwhelming change.
Within rapidly changing times that threaten our survival, we have the strong motivation to know what to do to further life on Earth, even if that means turning to the sacred for deliverance. The sacred path to further life on Earth supports changing our harmful ways and views. The Yi Ching offers valued support as it speaks to each of us as unique beings within our own unique situations It offers guidance on how to change ourselves in ways that further life on Earth.