(354) Origin of divination and its philosophy

By Janet Shin

The practice of divination has its origin in human nature facing unexpected situations, which were more devastating and inevitable in ancient times. These situations mostly were caused by nature such as natural disasters, climate changes and geographical changes including attacks wild animal attacks. For instance, a man may have been walking out of his cave after waking up to find himself facing a huge scary tiger or the Earth inexplicably, violently shaking. Any deviation from the security of life and their awareness of crisis created the consciousness of anxiety. They were not trivial matters but unknowable and impending, even affecting the very survival of whole tribes.

At first people would have asked the Heavens why a certain calamity had happened and how they could avoid a similar peril the next time. This provoked a need for divination which is actually an act of calling for God’s revelation. Later on, it developed to interpret accidental situations by ‘thinking’ and ‘investigating’ the sameness and difference of all phenomena and ultimately seeking the substance of the true ‘thing itself.’

Through divination, people tried to hear the holy voice of their deity by which they determined the mode of their actions. People believed in the existence of God and the providence of Heaven and conceived of an affinity between them. Accordingly, this generated a certain identity between the deeds of Heaven and man. This is the background to how the crucial concept to form Oriental philosophy was created in pursuing foresight of the future. I hereby present a thought that ‘Heaven and man correspond to each other.’

Among all creatures in the universe, humans were considered the most precious. Their 360 bones correspond to Heaven’s number, such as 360 days of the year, the flesh of man’s body to the thickness of the Earth, the brightness of man’s head, ears and eyes to that of the sun and the moon, the orifices and vessels in the body to the forms of natural valleys and streams and so on. A human face that is big and round emulates that of Heaven. Since Heaven created the human body reflecting the days and seasons of the year, man’s destiny is also associated with the order of Heaven. The big 12 bones reflect the months of the year, the five organs correspond to the five elements and four limbs to the four seasons.

Owing to this resemblance, the human personality and morality are the embodiment of the will of Heaven. Meanwhile when human deeds are not pertinent, Heaven may punish them sometimes with natural disasters. This applies not only to the lives of ordinary people but to those of the kings to determine the fate of their nations.

In ancient days, this thought became an orthodox creed and political philosophy to solidify the stability of the nation by linking Heaven, the king and people and providing ways to promulgate their morality systems. Divination was the medium to connect them. While the thought that ‘Heaven and man correspond to each other has its features of harmony and unification it also rendered a faith that humans are competent subjects with free will, which could be achieved by exertion and learning. The development of Oriental philosophy, henceforth, was associated with this process of thinking.

Information : Are you interested in learning more about the ancient Chinese teachings, the “Four Pillars of Destiny” and oriental ways of fortune telling or fortune tellers? Janet teaches Saju for the public at Seoul National University of Education. For further information, visit Janet’s website at www.janetshin.modoo.at or her blog, https://blog.naver.com/janet_shin. You can also contact her at 010-5414-7461 or email janetshin.kor@gmail.com

The writer is the author of “Life’s Secrets”.