I do not know about you... then again... you do not know about me. ;-) But, sometimes, I just need to talk things over with someone... or something. I mean, when I am in the process of making a critical decision, be it how much RAM I should purchase, now that 256MB costs a little more than a pack of gum, or whether or not I should ask for The SIMS and The Livin' Large expansion pack for my birthday (thanks, Mom), or if looking and touching a TiBook will hurt my PowerBook's feelings (there, there, baby... it is OK...you look slim to me)... well... sometimes a guy just needs to bounce an idea off of someone, sometimes a guy just needs to run a concept up the flagpole and see who salutes, sometimes a guy just needs to throw a plan up against the wall and see what sticks, sometimes a guy just needs... well...

Sometimes a guy just needs a second opinion.

Two very popular forms of second opinions, aside from the coin toss, the barber, and the bartender, are those of Astrology and the I Ching (pronounced ee-CHING), or Book of Changes. The former is very well known in our techno-wonderful world, the later, less so.

Astrology (whether you believe in it or not) has to do with how external forces affect you, and the world around you. So, for example, when the planet Mercury is in retrograde, Astrology suggests to us that communications may get fouled up, because Mercury is the Messenger... you know... the guy with the winged feet that has a standing contract with the FTD Florist. Ergo, when Mercury is in retrograde, you should be prepared for potential misunderstandings, and noisy communications, so it might not be a good idea to enter into a binding contract just yet, and... well... things like that.

The I Ching, on the other hand, is a method of tapping into your intuition, into your higher self. But, aside from that, it is a fascinating, 5000 year old Chinese book.

The Chinese philosophers of yore believed that the conditions of human endeavors could all be approximated as being in one of 64 states, and either stable for the time being, or in transition into a different one of those 64 states. Yes, 64 is a power of 2. Yes, the I Ching is binary. This is 5000 years ago, mind you. Part of the fascination.

So, the idea behind the I Ching is that you ask a question, and go through a process of indexing into a particular chapter of the book to gain insight. In that regard, it is a bit like the Rorschach Ink Blot Test in that the resulting stimulus is intended to trigger a conscious thought, but with one very important (make that critically significant) difference. The difference is the belief that, at a higher level, you actually already know the answer, and that the indexing process is far from random. In other words, you are, at a higher level, selecting the chapter appropriate to the situation. I personally have used the I Ching for years and years, and I have always found it to be a good advisor.

Whether you buy into any of this or not, the I Ching is a cool book, especially for us technical types. Why? Well, one of the beautiful things about the I Ching is how it starts with just two concepts, Yin and Yang (binary, remember?) and uses the binary representations of the numbers from 0 to 63 to make pictures, termed hexagrams, which are then interpreted by appearance. There is something profoundly visceral about that. I mean, talk about building something from the ground up.

The other thing quite wonderful about the I Ching is the actual divination process, which sometimes uses coins, sometimes uses yarrow stalks, and once upon a time, actually used baked tortoise shells, of all things. In fact, I found the divination process so fascinating, I actually wrote a paper about it, titled Yarrow Stalk Odds and the I Ching: The Xiao Guo / Jie Method.

I was able to locate a number of I Ching products for the Palm. I am pretty old school when it comes to the I Ching. I mean, if it is 5000 years old, and it is not broken, then why fix it? So, because all of the Palm I Ching products that I could find, free or not, have such nonstandard divination interfaces, I will not review them here.

But, by far, the best I Ching program for the Mac, or the PC, for that matter, and perhaps one of the most holistic programs ever written, is the Oracle of Changes (US$29.99). It is animated. There are background sounds, like that of a waterfall and frogs croaking, as well as background music. There is an original painting done for each of the 64 states. You are instructed on how to perform your reading by a speaking guide in front of a sacred koi filled pool. Your reading is spoken out loud to you, if you wish, and can be stored in a notebook for future reference. Really neat stuff. What's more, the Oracle of Changes is also available as a online I Ching consultation, so you can use it... for free! But the program itself is much more animated and alive. It even includes some video interviews that you might find interesting, like one with Dr. Katya Walter on the relationship between the I Ching and DNA. Whoa.

Then again, you might just want to curl up with the Book of Changes as... well... as a book. I suggest either Huang,Taost Master Alfred,The Complete I Ching (Vermont:Inner Traditions,1998) or Wei,Wu,The I Ching Workbook (California:Power Press,1997).

Hmmm, now getting back to my question... let's see...

Hmmm... Sounds about right to me. ;-)

Email Charles Sorgie