Fortune Told
By Lee Eun-pyo
Toward the end or beginning of a year, before moving or getting married, some people visit fortunetellers or go online to have their fortunes told. Some are fanatics whereas others do it for fun with family and friends.
I have never thought there would be a single soul out in the world who knows my fortune, even though the desire to know lurks in my mind. The excitement of life may be the unknown.
University professors are usually given a sabbatical year every seven years or so. Most recharge and engage in further research. These days, there is news coverage of university professors who were denied tenure, who are known to have plagiarized papers, who fabricated research data to publish in the academic journal Science, and who are about to lose their jobs after their sabbatical year.
Some institutions seem generous in letting their staff go on sabbatical, understanding that scholars need a break for research and better teaching, but the one I teach at takes a tougher approach. One of my colleagues applied for her sabbatical with great expectations only to be rejected. Having excellent research ability along with numerous SCI (Science Citation Index) papers, she was surprised by the decision. All of us knew how hard she worked at her research. We felt her resentment toward the institute was justified.
In a gesture to make her feel better, one of her friends took her to a supposedly good fortuneteller. She was told that she would have died if she had gone abroad. Her resentment and disappointment melted away instantly. She felt exalted and even thanked the president for the rejection.
How could the fortuneteller have known she had a plan to go abroad? Who knows if the fortuneteller was right? But the important thing in this case was that the client got satisfaction from the service. What more can be asked if someone gets contented and consoled? Who can say it is superstitious or absurd? Perhaps some fortunetellers are actually gifted.
We sometimes feel lost and hopeless. Everyone must explore his/her path without a clue. But if having one's fortune told in times of frustration makes one feel boosted even slightly, it may serve a purpose.
The writer is teaching English to medical students at EuljiUniversity. She can be reached at
Saju Expert Sheds Light on Life
Shin Hopes Korean Saju Will Become Popular Around the World
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter
Fortunetelling is booming throughout Seoul. Walk around the downtown area and you'll find many fortune tellers who claim to read your future using tarot cards or analyzing your palm.
Korea has its own fortunetelling tradition called saju, or four pillars. Saju is a study of life by looking at one's four pillars: month, day, year and time of birth. It is based on Chinese astrology. Unlike Chinese fortune telling which is famous around the world, saju is hardly known outside Korea.
Janet Shin, a saju expert, says that while Korean and Chinese saju are similar, she wants to make Korean saju more widely known and appreciated around the world.
``Chinese and Korean fortune telling are both based on Chinese astrology, so there's not much difference. The Chinese four pillars are a little more orthodox than Korean saju. Korean saju may be more real and practical. But the Chinese four pillars are well known because there are many scholars who have published books in English, unlike in Korea,'' she told The Korea Times.
Shin lamented the fact that there are no books about Korean saju available in English. She is working on translating her book ``Learning Four Pillars" into English. Excerpts are published in Shin's weekly column in The Korea Times.
As a student, Shin was always interested in saju but only as a hobby. After university, she got married, had children and worked as an executive for a multinational apparel company, which allowed her to travel to different countries. Everyone envied her successful and happy life.
``I was a good daughter to my parents, a good mother to my children and wife to my husband, but I kept thinking I need to do something different. So I went to a fortuneteller. Even though I was interested in saju, I was distrustful of fortunetellers. This fortuneteller was a monk, and he told me a nasty story about my life, which was not true. He also told me about my future. But I realized I couldn't let other people `read' my life. I have to find out about my life first,'' she said.
Shin decided to study saju as much as she could. In 2005, she decided to quit her job and seriously study saju. She wanted to understand it and apply it in a rational and logical way to everyday life.
``The purpose of saju is to know yourself and read your own life. I got my energy from saju. … I needed to do something that I can enjoy for the rest of my life and I found it in saju,'' she said.
Shin established her own saju research center, HeavenlyGarden, where she and other experts teach students about the basis and logic of saju. Here, she also gives saju readings for anyone interested in finding out more about their lives and what the future holds. She also gives saju readings in English for foreigners.
``In the darkness, people can't see where is right and wrong. But saju is like the light in the street. It can tell you where you're going. Saju can make life simpler. ... I'm the same person whose life was in darkness before, so I want to help many people find the light,'' she
Opposing theories
Those who believe that it is possible for a practitioner to tell fortunes or predict the future for clients may have religious objections to the practice. For instance, there are Christians who believe that fortune telling is forbidden in the Bible.
Those who do not believe that fortune tellers can actually read the future may believe that several other factors explain the popularity and anecdotal accuracy of fortune-telling:
- Fortune-telling in the context of an individual's belief system has a good chance of being believed.
- The predictions themselves can cause the subject to alter his or her behaviour in a way that makes the predictions become true, see self-fulfilling prophecy.
- When making a decision based on incomplete information, the fortune teller or oracle can reduce the anxiety associated with guessing.
Legality
In the United States, a variety of local and state laws restrict fortune-telling, require the licensing or bonding of fortune-tellers, or make necessary the use of terminology that avoids the term "fortune-teller" in favour of terms such as "spiritual advisor" or "psychic consultant." There are also laws that forbid the practice outright in certain districts. For instance, fortune telling is a class B misdemeanor in the state of New York. Under New YorkState law, S 165.35:
What Science Says
Scientific minds have many explanations and theories concerning clairvoyance. Generally, they split concerning the possibility of emotional or psychic knowledge. Dr. Paul Kurtz, a chairman of the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, in Buffalo, New York is one of the many who believe it is all a hoax; he refers to predictions as “cheap carnival tricks.”
“His committee, which includes several Nobel laureates, has investigated hundreds of clairvoyants and has yet to find a system or individual capable of telling the future. What it has found is that fortune tellers are experts at reading body language, listening closely and making general statements that seem specific. Many people, he added, are so suggestible they make their fortunes come true.”
Kurtz further explains, “At heart I think the problem is that Americans are so scientifically illiterate that they do not understand that these things are impossible…and they want to believe in it, so they will.”
Others share a less dismissive view. Danny Jorgensen in his article in the Sociological Quarterly believes there are “many possible paths to addressing recurrent problems, seeking solutions, creating identities, and associating on the basis of common beliefs. While some people are inclined to do this on a casual basis or as a matter of entertainment, other people make it a career or a way of life.” He further states, “The paramount sociological issue is not whether or not beliefs and practices (religious, scientific or occult) are verifiable scientifically but what it is that members hold to be real and what the social consequences of these convictions and resulting actions are.”
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