June 6, 2004

• From The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick Juliana said, “Oracle, why did you write The Grasshopper Lies Heavy? What are we supposed to learn?” “You have a disconcertingly superstitious way of phrasing your question,” Hawthorne said. But he had squatted down to witness the coin throwing. “Go ahead,” he said; he handed her three Chinese brass coins with holes in the center. “I generally use these.” She began throwing the coins; she felt calm and very much herself. Hawthorne wrote down her lines for her. When she had thrown the coins six times, he gazed down and said: “Sun at the top. Tui at the bottom. Empty in the center.” “Do you know what hexagram that is?” she said. “Without using the chart?” “Yes,” Hawthorne said. “It’s Chung Fu,” Juliana said. “Inner Truth. I know without using the chart, too. And I know what it means.” From The Book of Ecclesiastes 12:5 … and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets

  • 1:29 pm
  • 1 Comment