How Far Can You See

Those who follow my Urbanology column know that I’ll start my Introduction to The Book of Changes (I Ching) workshop next week as part of the City College of New York’s Adult and Continuing Education’s Fall Personal Development curriculum. You may remember that in my July Forgiveness article I wrote I planned to conduct the I Ching workshop this Fall because it would help me to jumpstart my life-long journey of exploring the mysteries of one of the world’s most amazing books.

Over the years, Thomas Cleary has been my choice as the best translator of Taoist classics like I Ching. I’ll use his translation of Cheng Yi’s Tao of Organization: The I Ching for Group Dynamics, as one of three reference books for the workshop. I’ll also use the I Ching Workbook by R.L. Wing. The third book I’ll use is a wonderful book I discovered over the summer by Wu Wei called, The I Ching Handbook: Getting What You Want. Wei writes about the mindset necessary to not only improve your ability to use the I Ching, but to improve your whole life.

Wu Wei answers the question of “How far can you see?” by writing: “Every thing we see is inside of our heads. Inside of each eye are about one hundred million rods and cones. These rods and cones are stimulated by the rays of light that enter your eye which, in turn, create impulses that travel along the optic nerve system to the brain.”

The brain receives those impulses and forms a picture. That picture is inside your head - formed by your brain, within your brain. Wei also writes that, “We never actually see an object, the only thing we see are light rays being radiated by, or reflected from objects. The view you have of the world is simply a picture that appears to be outside, but actually is inside your head.

When I started thinking about this the first thing that came to mind was the Magic Eye 3D computer-generated illusions. If you look at them for a period of time a 3D image seems to “magically” appear. According to Wu, “Changing the way you see things is much easier than changing the things you see.” One important point in this is that we react to the pictures we see in our heads, based on past experiences. That’s why some will see a glass as half full, while others see the same glass half empty.

One of the other important concepts I got from Wu’s book is that events are the language of the Universe. The essence of that communication is what we call “coincidence”. If you’re still reading, perhaps you should pick up the Wu book. You might also want to join my workshop. If so call 212 650-7312, or register on line at www.ccny.cuny.edu/ace. You still have time. The workshop starts next Tuesday, October 6th. You might also want to visit my blog at www.theartofwarogers.com How far can you see?