(303) Fortune telling as a philosophy

By Janet Shin

Divination in our history is derived from a primitive fear about uncertainty. The fundamental frustration arises when things do not proceed as we expected. Humans are most afraid of matters that they do not know of. For this reason, they have sought solutions for the chaos.

The purpose of studying philosophy is varied. It can be a searching of conceptual truth and a definition of the universe. By having a clear outlook on the world, one wishes to have answers to questions such as, “Why do I exist? Who sent me here? Where is the beginning point or the end of the world?” This would provide us with explanations about why all humans die, where we go after death, and what the universe means to us. Ultimately this whole process helps us in seeking advice on about “how to live.”

Looking back on the path that philosophy has followed, some theories were adopted and welcomed while others weren’t. It depends on the social and political situations of the time. In the Orient, it is divination that has been consistently believed over thousands of years, regardless of particular values and interests. It survived the suppression of domineering ideologies in numerous eras. For instance, even when Qin Shi Huang, the king of the state of Qin (260-210 BC) instructed to burn books on the Chinese classics and have Confucian scholars buried, I ching, the classic book of changes or the oldest Chinese divination manual was not destroyed.

By studying it, the great ancient scholars wanted to know what was innate in our destiny. Even before the philosophical studies, people tried to tell their fortunes. The enormous remains, such as oracle tortoise shells, and other animal bones are the traces of ancient divination. People observed the forms of every object or the shapes of cracked shells and symbolized them by cosmological and metaphysical principles in order to infer their fate.

Although they were introduced as a guideline for how to evade misfortune and bring in the good luck, their interpretations were not just providing a fragmentary answer. Instead of revealing either success or failure, they actually rendered more aspects of life. They included “repentance and illiberality” so as to convince people with morality and ethics. That’s why divination has been recognized as a philosophy in the Orient and it may become a profound learning globally nowadays.

Much to our regret, wealth seems to be an absolute value. It has blurred the other precious constituents as a result. Many people have forgotten that money is just a tool for the happy life. As I get to know various life stories by reading saju, I learn a real face of life that has both positive and negative sides multiply. Obviously everyone has their own delight of life. Wealth is not the sole factor to reach a satisfactory life. The current misfortune does not last forever. Time heals most of people’s agony.

The ancient wise men tried to teach us the changeable as well as the eternal states of the universe. The nature has the law of “changes” like the movement of the sun and moon and the cycle of the seasons of the year.

When it is applied to human life, everyone goes through both the stagnant and progressing period. What we do and how we think now is the source of the good or ill luck in the future. Rather than being overwhelmed by destiny, we need to tolerate ourselves within various facets of life.

Divination has been conducted owing to the consciousness of anxiety. People tried to be aware of what’s going on and the causes of what happened by practicing it. Then they wished to become a master of their own destiny by studying and interpreting the unknown status and filling the gap between what they cognize and the framework of reality.

Are you interested in learning more about the ancient Chinese teaching about the “Four Pillars of Destiny”? For further information, visit Janet’s website at www.fourpillarskorea.com, contact her at 010-5414-7461 or email janetshin@hotmail.com. The writer is the author of “Life’s Secrets”.