Gabriel Felley
University of Applied Sciences Northwestern, Switzerland
Title: A millennium-old Chinese wisdom book in the mirror of current knowledge from the natural sciences
Biography
Biography: Gabriel Felley
Abstract
The Yi Jing or "Book of Changes" is a unique philosophical system whose genesis dates back more than 3,500 years in ancient China. In Europe and the USA, it was only perceived at the turn of the century. The Yi Jing became known in Europe and the US in the early 20th century by the popular translation of Richard Wilhelm. The enthusiastic interest of C.G. Jung, founder of the analytical psychology and of the concept of collective unconscious, for this book helped it to a certain recognition in philosophical and psychological circles of science. To this day, the mystery of its origins and its structure remains largely unresolved. In this article the author shows the basic principles of this universal framework, which can be considered as the theoretical background of the Traditional Chinese Medicine. Astonishingly there are fascinating parallels between these principles and the most modern scientific phenomena and theories such as Quantum physics. Establishing such links may help to strength the legitimation of the therapeutic approach followed by the Traditional Chinese Medicine. Additionally two practical examples illustrate the pertinence of the Yi Jing methodology to handle, even philosophical or psychological, questions.