The Classic of Changes in Cultural Context: A Textual Ar ...

character of this symbolic system, including its “yet unfinished” terminal state, makes it a paradigm of reflective design for understanding human ways of life.

One needs to get beyond common thematic discussions of beliefs and “philosophical” arguments, to learn to operate such symbolism as just described. Instead of discussing propositions about “balance,” one must balance: the structural rationale of these texts cannot be understood simply by saying something but only by doing something. With the stronger reversibility that textual operations enable, one can better discover that such systems—even though nonpropositional and not reports or allusions about belief representations—indeed are “about” something in the world. They are about prospective features of human action, its attendant patterns of risk, in the world of signs and portents to which people stand in a musical and divinatory relation. If one can articulate an approach to the divination text consonant with its structural design, reading it as a kind of highly ramified cultural action map, one can better participate with enhanced awareness exploring the ongoing connectivity of the human situation.