Fortune-telling: Is it a hoax? Or is it an innocent pastime? I am here with an article that some of you – especially astrologers – will get angry with me while reading it.
In this article, I will talk about the history of fortune telling, the ways in which civilizations have used fortune telling and the place of fortune telling in the sociological period we are in. While benefiting from the blessings of technological innovations in the 21st century, the vast majority of us seek answers in metaphysical worlds that progress in the light of positive sciences.
The most well-known of these answers is fortune telling, but many other examples can be given. In addition to technological developments, the answers in the metaphysical world are changing day by day. For example, while in the past wishes were made to God, today this has been replaced by concepts such as ‘the universe, reiki’.
Forer-Barnun Effect
First of all, I will ask you to answer these questions in a study conducted by psychologist Bertram R. Forer with his students and I will ask you to answer these questions with sincerity and transparency and to rate them between 1-5 points.
- The number of people you can really call your friends and tell everything to without hesitation is no more than 2-3.
- You need others to like and admire you, but you also tend to be critical of yourself.
- Your personality has some weaknesses, but you usually manage to compensate for them easily thanks to your positive sides.
- You have a very large and important capacity which you could use to your advantage but don’t.
- While outwardly you appear disciplined and self-confident, inwardly you are a little anxious and insecure. Indeed, you sometimes have serious doubts about whether you’re making the right decision or doing the right thing.
- You prefer a certain amount of change and variety; you are unhappy being confined by restrictions and limitations.
- You pride yourself on being an independent thinker, you don’t close yourself off to new ideas, but you don’t accept the claims of others without satisfactory evidence.
- At first you may seem cold, but once you warm up to others you become very talkative and warm-hearted.
- At times you are outgoing and sociable; at other times you are an introverted shut-in.
As you read some sentences, I can hear you saying, “Oh, that describes me exactly”. I am sure that most of us gave the same scores to the same questions.
Forrer distributes these personalized questions to everyone and most of the answers are the same. Just like we give the same answer to most of the questions. Does this mean that Forrer is a fortune teller? If so, I’ll be a fortune teller and say that the average score is 4.20. Of course I don’t know the average score and I’m not a fortune teller. Neither is Forrer. It is not fortune-telling if the answers to these questions are similar or identical.
Does every zodiac sign have the same characteristics?
There are 8 billion people in the world and the vast majority of them believe in horoscopes. Among these 8 billion people, we have hundreds of thousands, maybe even more, of the same zodiac sign, and according to these zodiac signs we have, there are horoscope interpreters, astrologers, who make definitive judgments about our character.
The simplest example I can give to these comments is “Pisces is emotional”. But are non-Pisces people devoid of emotions and sentimentality? In other words, are they roboticized people?
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Horoscope interpretations are not limited to this.
I read the weekly-monthly-yearly horoscopes of many astrologers and I realized that the life of every zodiac sign is going perfectly. There is not a single problem in anyone’s life. Eternal happiness awaits some and wealth awaits others. In short, according to astrologers, your life is perfect and you have no problems in life. How accurate are these interpretations according to our horoscopes? Is our life really as perfect as the astrologers say? How realistic are these comments?
After reading these interpretations, I started to feel like a fairy tale hero because according to these interpretations, our life is perfect and promises us a paradise. Let’s talk a little bit about the history of this business.
Which civilizations used fortune telling and how?
Since the Babylonians, who first systematized astrology in history, many sophisticated books have been written for this field. These included many astrological books, such as books on how to interpret the stars.
Throughout history, we have looked to the sky, sometimes during wars and sometimes for answers to questions such as when it will rain. The goal of all civilizations in history was to see ahead. We don’t find it strange that people living in ancient civilizations did this, because they lived with technology that didn’t exist at that time. Their lives were completely dependent on the fate of nature.
In ancient times, some kings made decisions based on the positive and negative energies they felt when they looked at the sky. The Romans thought that birds conveyed messages about the future. When we look at the Islamic world, there is a rising interest in astrology with the Abbasids. Those who believe in God look for the future in different places. In other words, in heaven and hell.
In the past, when Ottoman pirates saw Christian ships, they decided whether or not to attack them based on fortune telling. The Chinese, on the other hand, used bones to tell fortunes and even utilized the lungs, livers and intestines of animals for this purpose.
Even in this era, when positive sciences have risen to the top and we are enjoying the benefits of it, as I said at the beginning, we still carry books on fortune telling and astrology and even their maps in our pockets. Humanity is very eager to interpret anything with a line, symbol or sign on it.
But is there still an interest in astrology and fortune telling in modern times?
It’s the 21st century and technological advances have come and gone. Most of us have seen innovations that we can’t even imagine, but we still haven’t left the dream of metaphysics. Of course, this situation needs to be analyzed not only on the basis of individual psychology, but also collectively.
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From an outside perspective, it is clear that there are factors that trigger and even reinforce them. The main reason is that the world is dying of uncertainty day by day. You did not hear wrong, it is dying of uncertainty.
Epidemics, foreign and civil wars, earthquakes, economic troubles and many other events drag people into uncertainty. That is, uncertainty about the future. This uncertainty pushes people to see fortune telling and astrology as a lifeline for the future. People want to interpret and plan what will happen tomorrow imaginatively rather than based on reality because reality hurts people.
Fortune-telling: Is it a hoax? Or an innocent pastime?
In conclusion, concepts such as fortune telling and astrology are based on superstition and have no reality. If you believe that you think scientifically, I strongly recommend you to stay away from such metaphysical elements for your psychology.
If, while reading my last sentence, you have said sentences like “no, she knew at this point in my life”, I ask you not to get defensive, but to sit down and do a ‘zoom out’. I should also add that tarot reading is not sacred. We clearly know that they are used as playing cards in Europe.
References:
Barnum Effect - The Decision Lab. (n.d.). The Decision Lab. https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/barnum-effect
https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/2153556#:~:text=Fal%C4%B1n%20toplumda%20alg%C4%B1lan%C4%B1%C5%9F%20%C5%9Fekli%3A%20T%C3%BCrk,bir%20hurafe%20olarak%20kabul%20edilmektedir.
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