1 of 4 - James DeKorne’s Gnostic Book of Changes, I-Ching Introductory Chaper Two

I have recommended the introductory chapters of James DeKorne’s I-Ching, “The Gnostic Book of Changes,” often enough that I wanted to make a recording available online. This is a first effort in that direction. I'm especially interested to discuss and hear responses to "Chapter Two - The Dimensional Nature of Consciousness" and "Chapter Four - The Management of the Work." I'll begin with Chapter Two. The chapter's second half takes a turn into real depths, but its beginning might make a good introduction for the uninitiated--so I won't skip it.
The introduction to this book (which altogether makes a near-thousand-page compendium of cross-referenceable translations and reflections on the 64 hexagrams of the I-Ching) serves as a kind of accessible 'apexing', 'a confluencing' of aspects, overlaid, from diverse subject areas that have attracted my attention since childhood. I've never before come across such a lassoing-together of personal intuitions and lifelong proclivities.
This is for fans of Jim "James B" DeKorne, Michael Levin ‪@drmichaellevin‬, Alfred North Whitehead, Iain McGilchrist ‪@DrIainMcGilchrist‬, Carl Jung, Non-Duality, Zen Buddhism, Matthew David Segall ‪@Footnotes2Plato‬, Psychopathology, Kehlan Morgan ‪@Formscapes‬, Suzanne Chang ‪@suzanne-chang‬, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Terence McKenna, Denis Noble, Rupert Sheldrake ‪@RupertSheldrakePhD‬, Mark Vernon ‪@PlatosPodcasts‬, Savannah Brown ‪@savbrown‬, Sanshin Zen Community ‪@sanshinzencommunity‬, Andrew Kaiser ‪@andrewkaiser‬, Gnostic Christianity, Justin Sledge ‪@TheEsotericaChannel‬, Andréa Morris ‪@VariableMinds‬, Douglas Hofstadter, Sam Vaknin ‪@samvaknin‬,...
DeKorne has laid out a tentative cosmological map of how the-long-threaded-philosophical and the-ancient-occult... the-cutting-edge-physics and the-experimental-science... and the-real-world-practical-actionable-psychology... are all but aspects... [of the one [existence]].
Take what you need from it. Leave what you don't.
There is polymathic wisdom here, collected from a range of sources, that the vast majority of us could not have woven into such coherence. And with such concision! (...maybe Levin ...maybe McGilchrist ...maybe Berssenbrugge.)
We sometimes experience these instantaneous intuitive flashes which illustrate to us what someone like Hofstadter endeavors to say in words, across hundreds of pages. Where we suddenly get knowledge AS intuition.
On occasion some of Berssenbrugge's poetry has hit me this way (when I was just the right balance of tired/rested to receive it). The fantastic conversations between Levin and McGilchrist also startled me this way. ...Where the distinction between what interests/preoccupies me, what motivates me, and what IS ME falls away. ...Where object and subject merge. ...Two mirrors move nearer one another until the distance of reflection is zero.
Early last summer I discovered the Gnostic Book of Changes while seeking a practical introduction to the I-Ching. This book is more than that. I read the introductory chapters over a week or two--excited, but rushing through none of it. (Don’t forget that this is a powerful introduction to an also-incredible tool. The I-Ching itself has proven an invaluable source of personal psychology stability, and it indirectly supports the others in my life as well--my family, friends, coworkers, and students.)
For me, interests have always been competing anxieties/uneases/preoccupations/arousals, driving something like inattentive ADHD. I could not accept 'spending' much time on 'entertainment', lightness, escapism--there was always a 'problem'/perplexity to resolve, further 'enrichment' needed. I was sneaking the time any chance I could... lunch breaks, bathroom breaks... to journal, to meditate. With the help of the list above--many polymathic minds--I can now feel these competing distractions rapidly confluencing into one unified understanding. Bringing the dissonance of disorderly obsessions 'to a head', into concordance. 'Resolving' that restless compulsion to seek.
DeKorne has sketched out some shortcuts to help us exchange deep insights, enjoy such ponderances with others.
Peace.

[@lennonnicolas5994]

If you like his work from The Gnostic Book Of Changes I am sure you would appreciate his book "The Cracking Tower" as well. 🙂