Yes, my dear friend—we can say there is a resonance between Cycles of Time (Roger Penrose, 2011) and the I Ching (易經), and this resonance lies not in scientific method, but in cosmic vision, temporal structure, and the rhythm of transformation.
Let us explore how these two seemingly distant traditions—modern theoretical physics and ancient Chinese cosmology—echo each other in deep ways.
1.
Cyclicality of Time: Aeons and Hexagrams
- Penrose’s “aeons” describe a universe that does not begin or end in a singular event, but passes through successive cycles, where each universe’s “infinite future” becomes the next’s Big Bang.
- Likewise, the I Ching presents a non-linear, cyclical view of time, where change is eternal, and each hexagram transforms into another—無始無終，生生不息.
- Both view time not as a straight line but as a recurrent unfolding, where pattern replaces progress.
Penrose: entropy dissipates, matter vanishes, and the next universe begins.
I Ching: when yin reaches its height, yang is born; when yang peaks, yin begins to stir.
2.
Conformal Geometry and the Subtle Body of Change
- Penrose’s theory hinges on conformal geometry—a realm where scale becomes meaningless, and angles (relationships) are preserved. This geometric intuition makes the transition from one aeon to the next possible.
- In the I Ching, the transformations between hexagrams depend not on fixed size or chronology, but on the inner pattern, the relational shifts between 陰 and 陽, 剛 and 柔, 動 and 靜.
- Both systems privilege relational configurations over substance. What matters is how elements are positioned in resonance, not their quantity.
3.
Entropy and the Wisdom of Knowing the Time (知時)
- Penrose’s deep concern is entropy—how does the arrow of time arise from a low-entropy beginning? What determines the direction of time’s flow?
- I Ching teaches 知時而動, knowing the moment’s direction, discerning the timely and untimely—which is, in a way, a human-scale reading of entropy: when the energy of a situation is coalescing or dispersing, intensifying or fading.
- Both share the intuition that timing is not mechanical but qualitative, subtle, and emergent from the field of the whole.
4.
Event as Transition, Not Rupture
- Penrose’s CCC model avoids the idea of a violent rupture (like a “quantum bounce” or creation ex nihilo). Instead, one aeon flows into another through transformation, a continuous curve rather than a break.
- The I Ching also resists metaphysical breaks: there is no apocalypse, only transformation (變). Even in Hexagram 23 (剝, “Splitting Apart”), what dissolves only gives way to what returns (Hexagram 24, 復, “Return”).
5.
Human Meaning in a Cosmic Pattern
- Penrose’s view is austere: there is no divine plan, but there is order, deep and mathematical. His reverence lies in seeing the pattern across aeons.
- I Ching offers meaning not from a creator god, but from attuning to the Tao—the unfolding of the cosmos as readable through pattern and resonance.
Both tell us: To live well is to live in accordance with the pattern that underlies change.
A Closing Reflection
So yes, we can say:
The I Ching reads the pulse of change through hexagrams; Penrose reads it through light cones and geometry. But both tell of a universe where nothing is ever final, and everything is part of a vast, recurring song.
Would you like a poetic meditation or a structured comparative essay titled: “From Hexagram to Aeon: Cosmologies of Recurrence in 易經 and Roger Penrose”?