Cycles of Life - I Ching made simple.

The unit of YEAR is commonly used to identify cycle of time. Major weather change on earth basically repeats itself every 4 seasons, namely Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

Spring usually signifies the start of a year because plants start growing in Spring and trees turning green etc. Hence we can also use Wood to represent this cycle. Trees always start growing from their roots but we will never know exactly how tall a tree will grow. Hence this is a cycle where things get started without a clear definition of an end. Each of us start to walk out of our homes to enjoy fresh breeze. Normally only one person walk out of the door one at a time, hence this is a cycle of individualism.

Summer comes and it is the hottest time of the year. Hence we also use Fire to represent this cycle. Not only everybody are outdoor but everyone feel very excited and energetic too. People find it hard to just station at one place because it would be such a waste to the sunny days. We hop from one place to another instead. This is a cycle of team where many people do many things but seldom do we persist with focus. Much like a fire that spread fast burning from one spot to another without staying at one place too long; because it would have already finished burn off whatever that one location has.

Weather starts to turn cool in Autumn. Everyone are still out door but not as crazy as before. Our feet are back on ground preparing to go home. Earth is used to represent this cycle. We work together to accumulate what we need for the winter, much like the ants. This is a cycle of team where we work together to a closure.

Cold hits during Winter. Each of us stay at our own home. Everyone live their own lives with their own families. Just like hibernation, we try to stay put with what we gather during autumn and do not start too much new stuff. Its a cycle of individualism and closure where we don't want to start too many things. Metal, a symbolism of stable and no reaction, represent this cycle.

In these 4 seasons, we have a beginning and we have an end. So far that is only a straight line of event. In order to wrap the end to the beginning, making it a smooth cycle, we need a transition. The transition may take any form and flexible. It is both the beginning and the end, kind of philosophical. Water which can take any form is used to represent this transition cycle. This is a cycle beyond individualism or team, beyond initialization or completion, its a spiritual and philosophical cycle of why things are the way they are.

There you go, you have just get a grab of the main concept in The Book of Change or I Ching, a more than 2000 years old wisdom from China. You should also have no problem remembering the 5 basic elements of Wu Xing, Wood or tree for Spring, Fire for Summer, Earth for Autumn and Metal for Winter followed by Water as a transition before Wood(tree) grows again in Spring.

While this looks simple but application of this main concept alone can branches out many possibilities in real life. We will see if we have chances to get back on this topic with some real life examples ...