This blog entry is a response from a book titled <<A Fortune Teller -Told Me: Earthbound Travels in Far East>> by a renowned Italian author and journalist: Tiziano Terzani. I greatly recommend reading his rich masterpiece, especially those who are interested in journalism, history, philosophy, globalization, Asian culture and spiritualism.
It is said that in America, it is necessary for one to be acquainted with two kinds of people: a doctor and a lawyer. For us South East Asians, a third kind is necessary: a fortune teller. Address him or her by whatever honorifics: soothsayer, dukun, bomoh, gypsy, Feng Shui master, astrologer, tarot reader, so on and so forth; As Terzani points out, these people who are able to abridge the information asymmetry with nonhuman ways still hold pivotal roles in the lives of many South East Asians today.
These people belong to a class of beings who have access to information provided outside their five senses, or at least claim to be, whether by the means of a third-eye, black or white magic, holy prayers, or even stringent and precise astrological calculations combined with readings of body parts (either the face, the palms, or the feet). Terzani, having been predicted to encounter a catastrophe if he opted to fly during the year of 1993 by a renowned fortune teller in Hong Kong, found himself exploring South East Asia without being airborne in search of these people: Primarily as a cross-reference to his maiden fortune-telling experience, and as time passed, rather for amusement.
Along the way, however, he explores how globalization took out the last of "virginity" in Asia, as he laments the process of modernization ultimately leading to uniformity and with that, plain dullness. He also explored the changing current belief systems held by Asians, which are laden with discrepancies, ironies, and contradictions. Yet, he found himself (along with an increasing number of Asian youths) more and more attracted to the traditional, old school mysticism, which still has a stronghold in the region: He claimed that in countries such as Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia, such people are involved in high officials' decision-making and in counter espionage. Yes, wow.
His literature made me think of my own encounters with such holders of the 'God Eye'.
As a good South-East Asian, yes, I must profess I am acquainted with two such people. However, one is a teller, and the other (exceedingly rare) is rather a mentor and a teacher. Terzani made me think of how much of the future we can ethically know, and how much of the future we need to know. Is there such a thing as knowing too much of your own future? Does curiosity really kill the cat? It is instinctive for a man's mind to wander somewhere in the future, or somewhere in the past, but never in the present where there is happiness; Thus the rationale of not relying on them too much. I also believe that perhaps I have been told too much.
Another aspect is how accurate are these God Eye. As I compared and cross-checked projections of Terzani's future by these people, I could not notice big discrepancies and inconsistencies. Definitely, there are huge overlaps on his past, and there are significant convergence of his future predictions as well. (One must correctly predict the past in order for his future predictions to be taken seriously, even so, this is likely to be a form of logical fallacy). Let us take a prediction which many fortune tellers told him, which fact is easily verified. The time of his death. Mostly predicted that he will live up to at least 80 years old, if not 85 or even 90 and beyond. Wikipedia says that he died at the age of 65 due to colon cancer.
Thus, one actually questions how accurate and how true can fortune telling get. If the results may be inaccurate after all, why should we bother to have our fortunes told? Perhaps it is karmically negative (or a form of sin) to have our fortunes told, and thence, his short life? Or is it the possibility that future, as in streams of water, flows in infinite and numerous branches, so that the possibilities are endless but these people can only foresee a few? Is it necessary to have a large sample size (of prophecies) so that the sample is not biased, and its margin of error reduced?
God knows.
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