I offer a new way of using the yi jing: a rational way, an alternative to divination; is not my intention criticize or end with divination, is exactly the contrary, I would be happy if this method continues to be used, and attract more people to the Chinese culture, maybe they think Chinese martial arts are interesting, ask me for advice of consultations of the Yi Jing.
We have two methods of using the yin yang theory, divination and rational. For example you could observe and use knowledge to see if hot is yang or ying, using the rational method, or throw coins, or arrange sticks, for answers of gods, subconscious, universe, etc( I don’t want to over simplify the method of divination, there’s various methods and various reasons for acquiring an answer); the two are the same, they are what I call “categorization of reality” you can use the divinatory system in any of these “categories of reality” or reason in any of them, the four images: define with reason what season of the year you are, the bagua to determine the level of yin and yang, and the Yi jing, of course.
The rational method is used long ago, the Chinese don’t thrown coins or other methods to see what side of the mountain received sun and what not, they observerd and used reason to see a side received light and called it yang 阳(陽)(literary the sunny side of the slope) and the other yin (literary the shadowy side of the slope), they don’t used sticks to see what was rigid, in chinese gang, represented by a solid, rigid line, they used reason, and used this to name the other type of line, the yielding, flexible, represented by a broken, yielding line, of a flexible, curved line. The rational method is used in Chinese medicine to determine if a patient have a yang or yin characteristic. In feng shui you should arrange the bagua using observation and determine what is the north to arrange the baguas accordingly. In Martial arts we use reason to see an attack as yang and yield with an yin move, etc. Of course divination should have its advantages, but I’m not specialist to say if it is bad or good, I don’t see why both can’t coexist.
In fact saying that I use the rational method is a misconception as I use the rational and the intuitive, the whole; if you want a concrete example of rational use with the Yi Jing(I ching)易经(易經) I present will present them in my next texts.