Love, an Inner Connection: Based on Principles Drawn from the I Ching [Paperback]

Carol K. Anthony (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1993 | ISBN-10: 0960383263 | ISBN-13: 978-0960383269

This book defines the love relationship as the principle and most important of all relationships. It describes what no other book on love describes: the key role of the innermost thoughts and feelings in determining whether our relationships succeed or fail. Based on the Wilhelm/Baynes I Ching, which the author says contains the word love only three times, this book reveals that love is the all-important underlying principle of the I Ching. This love, however, is defined very precisely by its hexagrams and lines not as mere softness and sweetness, but as a developed awareness, sense of personal limits, openness, and capacity for feeling. Indeed, this book presents us with an entirely new description of love and the parameters within which it can safely unfold and become expressed. It shows that when we observe these limits and keep consistently aware of the effects of our innermost thoughts and feelings, we can continuously give and receive love without harm to ourselves or others. Indeed, Mrs. Anthony shows us how we can "make love stay."

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This book continuously receives powerful acclaim, as the volume and quality of reader responses show. To quote one reader: "...after 50 years of reading self-help books to deal with resistance in my husband, your book has turned the situation around to almost an utopian relationship. It wasn't easy but your book, together with using your Guide to the I Ching, gave me the answers that worked."

From the Author

After John Welwood incorporated a section on love from my book, "The Philosophy of the I Ching," into his book, "Challenge of the Heart" (Shambhala, 1985), I realized I had not said all I wanted to say on the subject of relationships. Having tried many times to describe the I Ching "way of relating" briefly to people who called me on the phone with relationship problems, I realized there was a real need for such a book. However, I wrote more than 22 chapters on relationships in general before I realized I had not touched the heart of my subject. I had suddenly realized that the intimate love relationship was the key to understanding all relationships. As a result, I discarded all but six chapters and began again. Whether by Cosmic design or mere synchronicity, just at this time I also fell in love. It was not atypical of my previous experiences in writing books related to the I Ching that I would not be allowed to write a book on love without experiencing it directly in all its aspects. As a result of the subsequent process I underwent, a wholly different book emerged than I could have envisioned. Although I finished the book long before my relationship was resolved, and although I had no proof of the validity of all I had learned from the I Ching, I nevertheless knew deep inside myself that what I had written was true. It was four years later that I finally had this proof, when my relationship was resolved in the miraculous way that had been indicated by the I Ching. I have always said that when authors write books out of their own deep experiences instead of merely out of their heads or imaginations, those books are written "in blood" and have a very special quality. This was one of those books, but which was at the same time a great gift from the Cosmos.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 147 pages
• Publisher: Anthony Pub Co (June 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0960383263
• ISBN-13: 978-0960383269
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,642,485 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Carol K. Anthony majored in creative writing at Ward Belmont College and the University of Iowa (1950), but did not find "her medium" until a friend brought her the I Ching in 1971, during a mid-life crisis. It was seven years later, when she realized that the notes she was keeping each time she experienced an "Aha," (to something the I Ching was trying to get her to understand) were something also of potential help for others. These notes would become her first book on that subject -- "A Guide to the I Ching." Ms. Anthony has been sharing her "Aha!s" ever since in one well-received book after another: four by herself until 1994, and three more in collaboration with Hanna Moog, a translator of all her books into German, and an expert publisher's editor on the I Ching for Eugen Diederichs Verlag.
Ms. Anthony states of her relationship with the I Ching, "It came to me at a time of personal crisis, and helped me in ways I could not have imagined. It showed me that times of crisis are also times of opportunity -- the opportunity to connect with the unique inner resources each of us possesses, but may have forgotten. They are the very resources we need to make our lives meaningful. The I Ching is a guide for this journey. It shows us that when we value and are true to ourselves and to our potentials, the whole Cosmos comes to our support. Today, more than ever, this 3000 year old book and its philosophy is needed

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinarily helpful and relevent, April 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Love, an Inner Connection: Based on Principles Drawn from the I Ching (Paperback)

After working closely with Carol Anthony's "Guide to the I Ching" for a year, I found myself truly transformed in attitude and awareness. That work which continues, was hallmarked by an unexpected relationship and when I felt the powerlessness of loving another, I reached to "Love, an Inner Connection" because it was based in the principles I was familiar with. This book is absolutely necessary to guide you through the challenges of loving another. It requires that we grow up, discard useless attitudes and prejudices, and work from faith and discipline. It seeks to teach those who are willing to learn, that loving requires enormous perseverence and patience, and that relationships that are meant to last, indeed require work.

Mrs.Anthony's understanding of the I Ching and her unique talent of bringing an ancient text to our "current" issues serves as an inexhaustible source of inspiration and strength.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love ,an Inner Connection, June 29, 2001

By 

Adolfo De Martino ""maestro martino"" (manahawkin,nj,usa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Love, an Inner Connection: Based on Principles Drawn from the I Ching (Paperback)

The book explores realms that are only seldom considered ,for their peculiar nature,and for not beeing easily"catalogued".. The paramount influence,Carol Anthony explains, it is not so much what we whish or desire..but rather what "we do".. " we cannot want the love from one person.." wanting something is still ego based talk..hence unsuccessful. " the way back.. ,straight into someone'heart is to "change the way we see them" as thoroughly as possible and as honestly..

This IS a formidable lesson! and Lesson # 2:.. "nothing can be hidden from, the loving heart of the person we are connected with.."no lies,regardless of their"size"or Color"(white?".).the two hearts are so intimately connected,and at such profound,non measurable level,that alienation soon ensues "The other" may never know the specifics,but the consequences are nevertless as damaging for the relation,that soon or later,breaks apart If the book would contain only these 2 formidable truth,would already be plenty..but thre are imbedded, in the generous and simple prose,hundreds of pure gems.... Such an exquisite voice. Such an exquisite lesson,for the avid heart,on its path to "redemption" Adolfo de' Martino

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than "The Secret" -- Transforming my life!, July 12, 2007

By 

Eight of Diamonds "Eight of Diamonds" (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love, An Inner Connection, Based on Principles Drawn from the I Ching (Paperback)

I recently made my chiropractor sell me this book right out of her waiting room. It is transorming my life -- not only my love life! It essentially shows one, in a very elegant and straightforward way, how to do the inner work of relationship with one's essential self, using the love relationship with "other" as the cauldron of transformation to relate only to the essential self in self and other, and not to wrestle with the ego of either.

As mentioned in a review below, the work involves seeing the partner as whole and perfect, and not being deceived by outer circumstances or actions caused by THEIR fearful ego. It sees the purpose of the love relationship as being drawn to oneself (and the partner) as the means to free each partner's essential self from ego, and beautifully expounds on the nuances involved in this simple, yet most difficult of paths.

There is nothing to "do" except find the trust in the love between you and that the universe is unfolding as it should. Anything else would be the ego's strategic attempt to control the situation, which is always doomed to failure.

I been applying the principles as I read the book (over and over!) and am finding a love being returned that I thought I had lost. This book reminds me that even if the ultimate outcome is not "being together" that by the time this becomes the self-evident next step, there will be no sadness or anger (to say nothing of NOT reinforcement of old negative self-talk about why this happened)but that the self that will have developed in the process will be ready to receive an even grander relationship than the one that got away.

I am online to purchase several copies, so I can give them to all of my girlfriends!