The Tao of Organization

I am happy to find so much interest in my upcoming October workshop at City College: The Introduction to The Book of Change, better known as the I Ching. The question that was asked most by people I ran into during the past few weeks was the name and title of the books that I will use. As promised, I will start providing information in my Urbanology articles that will help prepare workshop participants to obtain greater value from the four week workshop. I will focus on two books. The first is an excellent workbook titled The I Ching Workbook by R.L. Wing. You can get a used one from Amazon.com for under six dollars. This is the only book I would recommend on the I Ching that is not translated by Harvard’s Thomas Cleary.

The Tao of Organization: The I Ching for Group Dynamics by Cheng Yi will be the second book that the workshop will focus on. This Thomas Cleary translation is considered to be the best I Ching strategic handbook for business, political, social and religious organizations. It was written by Cheng Yi a distinguished educator in eleventh-century China and founder of the Study of Inner Design a study of both personal and collective life. Cleary writes that “the Tao of Organization analyzes relationships and power configurations within groups”.

Last week I wrote about how the 2000 year old I Ching influenced the discovery of information technology, the genetic code and the use of DNA, two factors that will take us past the 21st century. Cheng Yi’s Inner Design version of the I Ching played a major role in the life of Japanese Organizational genius Matsushita Konosuke, founder of Panasonic, National and other multinational Corporations. You can also get this book at Amazon.com. I recommend the above two books for anyone interested in introducing themselves to the Book of Change.

If your schedule will not allow you to take my workshop I would also recommend The Taoist I Ching: Translated by Thomas Cleary. This translation has more of a spiritual focus, but it can be hard to grasp without some basic understanding of the Book of Change. We will review this book also but we will focus on the two workbooks. If you would like to read my past articles on the I Ching or the Taoist Philosophy please visit my blog at www.theartofwarogers.com. And if you are interested in the I Ching, Book of Change four week workshop I’ll be presenting this October, you can register online line at www.ccny.cuny.edu/ace or call the City College Adult and Continuing Education Program at 212 650-7312.