Why?

In my understanding, willful events are wholly natural -- a cloud passing across the sky is an event, just as is my stooping down to tie my shoe. My awareness of my actions is not inherently different from the "awareness" the cloud has of its own passing. The cloud, the thing itself, is what it is, just as my will is what it is. The cloud does exactly what a cloud does, and though it may perhaps be able to communicate little more to me than the fact that it is a cloud of a certain type, it does nevertheless communicate this. Similarly, though the cloud does not acknowledge my presence or my actions in any appreciable way, might not the cloud hold me in similar consideration, as a will-less natural thing, with limited or no ability for independant action, at the will of the winds?

We are connected to the answers to our questions. The right response most naturally falls to the right question. The context of my question provides the answer. It is excedingly difficult, however, to ask the right question.

We might perhaps think about oracular consultations in terms of characterization of a person or of an event (past, present, future or time-span). I prefer to look at consultation of the oracle as a snap-shot of sorts. Depending on the circumstances, it may be a picture of past, present or future, or a picture of a span of time.

One may consult the oracle with a question about something in a particular time or span of time, or one may simply "consult the oracle" more impersonally, which is to say, use the method of determining gua4 (Trigram or Hexagram) as a means of attaining an "impartial" or objective perspective on a subject.