Indeterminacy 102

Richard Lippold called up and said,
“Would you come to dinner and bring the
I-Ching?” I said I would. It
turned out he’d written a letter to the
Metropolitan proposing that he be commissioned
for a certain figure to do The Sun.
This letter withheld nothing about the
excellence of his art, and so he
hesitated to send it, not wishing to
seem presumptuous. Using the coin
oracle, we consulted the I-Ching.
It mentioned a letter. Advice to
send it was given. Success was
promised, but the need for patience was
mentioned. A few weeks later,
Richard Lippold called to say that his
proposal had been answered but without
commitment, and that that should make
clear to me as it did to him what to
think of the I-Ching. A year
passed. The Metropolitan Museum
finally commissioned The Sun. Richard
Lippold still does not see eye to eye with
me on the subject of chance operations.