Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Esoteric Chess and I Ching

I want to point out to one phenomenon which majority of people, even spiritually oriented, don't notice, although it is "under our nose". It is the "game" of chess. Unfortunately, it is in the contemporary world more popular in Slavic countries, especially Russia, then in the Western world. Also, so few ladies know how to play chess, not to speak about it's hidden mystical or occult meaning.

It's a pity, because chess is Gnostic computer offering all time hints about our nature and the nature of the universe we are living in.

On the more shiny side, some individuals could not help but to discover it's inner meaning. Some of them are digging for years for deepest truth in the game of chess.
Let us take a look at some similarities between chess and I Ching.

First of all, chess is the mirror of the universe, some kind of micro universe. It has got 8 sequences of fields (alternatively black and white) on all 4 sides of the board. So, they suggest spreading into eternity (number "8" is the symbol of eternity).

It has got 64 squares, same as number kodons of DNA and same as number of hexagrams in I Ching, which represent all possibilities for a human being. Squares are alternatively white and black, like positive and negative polarities interpenetrating the whole cosmos and human nature. As a matter of fact, they represent the eternal play of Yang and Yin, or relationship between good and bad. The pieces are fixed stages of Spiritual development. There are 6 of them.The pawns are individuals with ordinary mentalities. They have a limited possibility of movement - always forward with a hope that in their final development they can incarnate as a Queen. The knight is the initiate, the bishop represents ecclesiastical power, rock or tower represents the power of Ego. The queen is mental side of a person, with all possible movements to all directions. The most mysterious is the king, of course. He represents True Self, Atman. Only he can not be killed, but he can be imprisoned, as Atman can be imprisoned in this body, society and the world.

Opponent's king represent the enemy, the tyranny and oppression of outside world which we must fight with.

6 pieces of chess represent 6 lines of I Ching hexagrams.

Every square on the chess board has a corresponding interpretation in the Book of Changes (I Ching). Moving any chess piece from one square to another is the act identical to the consultation of I Ching.

Some enlightened people play the game of chess with the basic idea of uncovering cosmic forces active in that moment of time. When I was in Chicago in 1978 I spent some time in the home of a man who was a real man of knowledge. He inherited small suitcase with 64 painted wooden cubes which represented 64 hexagrams. All 6 sides of cubes were covered with Chinese letters (in colors) and each of them represented one line of hexagram.I was fascinated with the exactness which that man was able to get to his own questions in his consultations. In that period I decided to write my own book on I Ching but I was able to write it in the satisfying way only many years latter. So I gave it the title "Philosophical Machine" which it really is.

Well, I just wanted to point out to huge ocean of possibilities and connections in front of us which we neglect so often.

Zivorad Mihajlovic Slavinski
http://www.spiritual-technology.com

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