As with other systems on the World Clock, the arrangement of I Ching hexagrams, along with corresponding DNA Triplet Codons, is done according to familiar Astrological associations. Upon this underlying color coded matrix, Astrology provides the first key with accepted traditional color associations, thus placement of the Sun in Leo with yellow, or red with Mars and Aries, as Venus and Libra fit with the greens of summer. Cardinal axis align solstices and equinoxes, marking transitions through the seasons, as well as equal divisions between quadrants.
Once this array is complete, the I Ching is easily placed upon this otherwise familiar, circular astrological calendar. There are a dozen recognized foundational hexagrams designated to specific months throughout the year, plus hexagrams that mark solstices and equinoxes. These hexagrams fill out 16 positions on the inner most level of the World Clock. The rest of the hexagrams are distributed evenly around the remaining cycles according to their father – mother, sons – daughters family trigram relationships. Within this intricate pattern of trigrams and changing lines, on the World Clock each hexagram has a corresponding inverse hexagram located opposite on the other side, with every subsequent level reflecting the same cyclic progression established on that first, inner level.
So, with the metaphysics safely out of the way… How to integrate this together with DNA, and Triplet Codons? Although suspecting such a connection long before hand, good fortune brought me the book “The I Ching and the Genetic Code, the Hidden Key to Life” by Martin Schonberger. Thankfully Schonberger did the really hard work for me, explaining in detail the incredible degree of symmetry between these two systems. Briefly examining the fundamentals of DNA and I Ching, he reduces both to binary code, revealing correspondences hidden deep within their mutual structures.
The book does include a fair amount of philosophical rambling (like a detour into the I Ching and Quarks!) but for this explanation, I shall limit myself to details specifically regarding the placement of code upon the World Clock. The important next step here is to establish a direct connection between the four emblematic symbols of the I Ching, and those four ‘letters’ of the DNA Code.
Building upon his earlier established binary code, Schonberger successfully brings these two systems together. Pairing the DNA bases with I Ching cardinal emblems, it begins: Thymine, sharing the binary designation of ’00’ with Old Yin or Winter; then Adenine, binary ’11’ with Old Yang or Summer; followed by Cytosine, binary ’10’ with Young Yang or Spring; concluding with Guanine and binary ’01’ and Young Yin or Autumn. Both DNA and the hexagrams can be divided into binary sets, where they seem to be using the same underlying pattern. The I Ching has only four combinations of Yin and Yang: resting yin, moving yin, resting yang, and moving yang. So if Yin can be represented by 0 and Yang by 1, the only combinations possible are 00, 01, 10, 11. It is these four options which align with the T, C, G, and A in our DNA. So there it is… An 8,000 year old Chinese method for divination, aligned perfectly with the DNA Life Code, founded upon a very computer like binary sequence. Well, imagine that!?
With this information, it’s a relatively simple to place DNA upon the preexisting color wheel of the World Clock. Now every I Ching hexagram can be matched to its corresponding triplet codon, with each located upon the clock directly across from its inverse RNA counterpart. Essentially that’s it, my task really is to transcribe this information on to the World Clock, and to consider where this all might lead…
It could be rightly said I’m no biologist, and beyond even the most elementary chemistry, I’m at a complete loss. Also, there’s little meaningful commentary on this DNA mandala I can truthfully offer, outside of a couple of interesting coincidences. One specific instance is found on every DNA table, where the word STOP (UGA) appears both as name, and as function, of that particular triplet codon. Sometimes referred to as OPAL, as you well know, this m-RNA codon marks the ‘stop sequence’ ending an amino acid chain. Most interesting, since the corresponding I Ching hexagram to STOP would be #12 Stagnation, associated with themes of exclusion, discontinuance, or being broken.
The next pair of coincidences takes a bit more explaining, so please bare with me. There are two other ‘stop sequence’ codons listed on those DNA tables, curiously named OCHRE (UAA) and AMBER (UAG). Do you know their etymological origins? When genetics grad students discovered the first stop “nonsense” AMBER mutation, it was named after participating researcher Harris Bernstein, whose name literally means ‘amber’ in German. So when the ORCHE mutation was found, it too was given a colorful name, one similar to those AMBER mutants. So here we have two stop codons, both for no real reason named specifically after hues of yellow, that just happen to turn up in two yellow sections on the World Clock! Now consider for a moment all the weird, synchronistic associations that had to line up, for these things to come together in just this way.
Of course, let us not neglect the overriding metaphysical message here: The DNA code for life parallels in its binary structure the I Ching, an ancient Chinese method for divining human destinies. Such a connection seem rather of appropriate, don’t you think?
We are spiritual beings whether we want to admit it or not, and inherent in our DNA is a design to return us home – home to our true essence, our greatest self, our limitless self.
– Debbie Ford
