Folklore Friday: Wilhelm Von Leibenz

Hey guys, welcome to Learn Feng Shui, where you'll learn Feng Shui from a classical point of view taken out the myth and superstition. If you like weekly tips as well as fun folklore tales, you'll enjoy learning Feng Shui with me. Hey guys, today I'm going to tell you about Gottfried Wilhelm von Liebens. Hey guys, don't forget to follow all the links below to keep up to date with all the info and events from Learn Feng Shui podcast. Hey guys, today's not so much of a folklore tale because it is of a room in a real person that actually existed.

So it's more of a history lesson today. Today I'm going to talk to you about Gottfried Wilhelm von Liebens. So as you can tell, he was not Asian in his descent. He was not Chinese, but he was credited with a very, very important discovery. And this was based on the Qing or the Chinese divination.

So he was a very important person to be a part of the system, one of the oldest in the world. And out of this, he actually discovered and created the binary coding, which are fuels and was the birth of modern day computing. And I just think that's so amazing. So let's dive into the history and the person that is Wilhelm von Liebens. While Gottfried Wilhelm von Liebens' work has inspired and influenced centuries of technological innovation, his own influences included Chinese philosophy and divination manuals recorded as early as 1000 BC.

The 17th century philosopher and mathematician developed a binary new number system that is still being used to this day. But his approach to writing of the binary code made direct references to the hexagrams and cosmological ideas found in the 9th century manual called the Eaching. von Liebens philosophical text focused on rationalist thought but also considered matters of faith as it was common among 17th century philosophers. He's considered one of the first Western intellectuals to adopt the ideas of traditional Chinese philosophies, thanks in part to his personal relationships with Christian missionaries in China at the time. He published his own interpretations of neo-confusionism, concluding that Europe would do well to adopt a Confucian ethical tradition.

Later historians would link von Liebens, his best known work, and the theory that the universe is made of an infinite number of simple substances to an early Confucian thought. Isn't that amazing? However, Liebens researched on Eastern philosophy extended to earlier periods of thought and he wrote extensively about 9th century divination manual the Eaching. The manual was attributed to Fusci and was the first to symbol during China's Western Zube period and offered both cosmological maps and philosophical ideas. Liebens wrote about his own fascination with the manual and noted that the text hexagrams corresponded with the binary numbers from 0 to 1.

Arguing that the authors were much more advanced in mathematics than Liebens contemporary believed. I don't know if the article will address the rest of this but I want to point out that a hexagram is just a series of six lines. The Eaching hexagrams come in either a broken or solid line and they're stacked just stacking of six lines. The solid lines are gang and the broken lines are yin. One such text is simply titled, are you ready?

It's a long one. Explanation of the binary risk meticulously uses the characters 1s and 0s with some remarks on his usefulness and lie to throws in the ancient Chinese figures of Fusci. Liebens looks at the binary code of the Eaching. Represent is yin and yang. He argued that all matters can be represented in binary sequences as 1s and 0s as it's expressed in ancient literature, yin and yang, which he identifies as terms that represent polar abstract concepts.

Using von Liebens' rationale, the Eaching uses a complex binary code and the formation of the hexagrams. Yin is noted as a broken line, while yang is noted as an unbroken line. These lines are used in a set of three to form eight trigrams, which combine to create 64 hexagrams or form of a larger matter. By seeing binary representation at ancient texts, von Liebens was compelled to continue his own writing of binary systems, which in turn became the language of modern computing, which is still used today. Thus linking a 5,000 year old text to the formation of the digital age.

And I just think that is so amazing. So I kind of thought of whether or not I should bring this up. But honestly, I was inspired to make this episode because as a person that is not of Asian descent, you know, I have no Asian heritage. I have been asked before why I talk about Asian culture and traditions that I have no tie to. And honestly, I just think it's fascinating, but always fascinating with other cultures.

And I don't think that I can really do Feng Shui without understanding a bigger picture of things. There's so much superstition wrapped up in Feng Shui. There's so much history. There's so much more to it than we think. And really that's why I start the folklore Fridays also.

And so I could share with you guys the, you know, everything that kind of ties to this system of, you know, Feng Shui, the five arts without, you know, cutting into just bringing you Feng Shui tips. So it's really dedicated to just bringing you history, facts, folklore and stuff like that. And I was told recently, of course, there's probably just an international that I shouldn't speak on things or talk about things that are not my culture. And I don't believe that to be true. I think with any person that studies other cultures, be it a historian or a scholar or just somebody that is an enthusiast of these topics, I think that there's this vast wisdom to gain from it.

And William Bon Liebitz is an amazing example of this. He was not part of the culture. He didn't have any ties to the culture. But he looked at these ancient texts and he drew this amazing wisdom from them. And he was able to in turn make this amazing thing that is actually enabling you to listen to me talk to you today is crazy, right?

And somebody from this 17th century, you know, could be inspired by somebody from the ninth century. Who can in turn, you know, spark a whole information age. I just think it's crazy. So anyway, you guys, I hope nobody's actually offended by the fact I'm not Chinese or Asian. And I like I said, I think it's just some random internet trolls.

But again, another person that was of some sort of European descent was inspired by these concepts too. Anyway, you guys have an amazing weekend and don't forget to check out the website and the vents that are coming. And I'll talk to you guys very soon to support the podcast be sure to subscribe. We review and share with your family and friends who you think may be interested, especially if you found this content useful. To learn more about Feng Shui and Chinese metaphysics, follow the link to the website below.