Recently have appeared many theories related to the End of the World, so called the Apocalypse, theories based on the Maya calendar. There are certain speculations which show that natural, global calamities will take place around 21st of December, 2012, when it’s the winter (SOLSTITIU?). This theory is made public in the Hollywood movie ‘2012’ and has pulled, till now, many alarm signals. In this movie, John Cusack meets a man in the Yellow Stone Park, who sustains that a foresight about the Apocalypse has been found in the Bible, in the Maya Calendar and in the I Ching.
The relationship between I Ching and ‘2012’ is being published in a book called “The invisible field: mind, HALUCINOGENE and I Ching”, written by Terence McKenna, who died in 2002. He was inspired by the arrangement of sixty four HEXAGRAME from the king I Ching (Book of change). In I Ching, the king Wen uses a special sequence for arranging the 64 HEXAGRAME and putting them in the same line with the Sky (Creation) and Earth (Reception) as the first and the second HEXAGRAMA. After he passes through the 64 HEXAGRAME, arranged in 32 pairs, the last one is represented by Water above Fire (After the Completion) and Fire on Water (Before Completion). This sequence is often used in the representation of different probations of the world’s development, starting with Sky and Earth, and finishing with Fire and Water, as the 2012 Feng Shui reveals.
Inspired by this sequence, McKenna assigned mathematical values to each of the 384 lines (jao) of the 64 HEXAGRAME and designed a curve. It is said about this one that it shows the date when important events will take place in the world. Each top and base of this curve seem to fit an important stage of the human civilization. He called it The Theory of the Time’s Curve. It seems that if someone translates in data the 384 lines from the 64 HEXAGRAME belonging to Wen King, according to this theory, the time interval between important events that took place it will be found. The most significant theory is that someone would put the final date of the curve on 21st of December 2012, then all the tops and bases of the curve would fit to important elements from history. Therefore, McKenna considers the day 21st of December 2012 as being the last one when the curve touches the base. 2012 Feng Shui will reveal in time if that theory is true.
So, not I Ching was the one who predicted the world would end in 2012. Mostly, it can be said that he gave McKenna inspiration to invent the Theory of the Time’s Curve. The original meaning of the last two hexagons – after the Completion and before it – doesn’t involve the end of the world.
On the contrary, it is said that there is no end, because change is not complete yet. The process is comparable to many natural cycles. When the four seasons end, other four begin. Therefore, it’s wrong and unfair to say that the Apocalypse from 2012 is predicted by I Ching.
Is there something in I Ching that can be associated to the ideas regarding the end of the world? I guess the most relevant thing is ‘The supreme principles of the worldwides order’, invented by Shao Yong from the Sung Dynasty. Shao Young also divided the Ages of the World into 64 stages, according to the 64 HEXAGRAME belonging to Wen King, but the year’s number that he assigned each stage is a very large one.
Even if the Apocalypse is closer, and the 21st of December represents the end of the world, 2012 Feng Shui reveals how things will happen until then and what people should and shouldn’t do. When calculating this date, it is certainly that people also took into consideration the 2012 Feng Shui art.