It is one of the oldest books known to man. Estimates say that it was written about 3000 years ago, but no one is certain whether it was by one person or by the work of many. It is not so much a form of "cause-effect" but as an indicator of "synchronicity". CG Jung described synchronicity as "the coincidence of events in space and time as meaning something more than mere chance, namely, a peculiar interdependence of objective events among themselves as well as with the subjective states of the observer or observers." So the I Ching's hexagrams point to the overall picture of space and time (including psychological states) that is part of the querent's world. Thinking of a question, tossing the coins or yarrow sticks and reading the hexagrams will give the questioner a snapshot of the world in reference to his question. This is not a stagnant picture, because just as the psychological makeup of a person is fluid, and time and space are moving, so do the hexagrams change in due course.