Fortune teller, a gold mine in Thailand
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Thais are very superstitious. They believe in ghosts and in influencing luck. Thai also believe that some people are able to predict the future.
They attribute almost everything to luck or bad luck. When a Thai has to do something important, he chooses a certain day of the week for it. A Thai believes that there are good days and bad days to do something. There are even Thai people who have changed their first or last name because they think they can influence their happiness in life.
The superstition has ensured that an industry has emerged with astrologers and fortune tellers, with a turnover of more than 4 billion baht per year.
A fortune teller uses Tarot cards, palmistry, shells and other tools to see into your future. Such a session can take place anywhere: on the street, at someone's house, under a tree, etc. The cost of such a feast starts at 50 baht. There are also famous fortune tellers in Thailand who charge millions of baht for one consultation. And make no mistake they have a waiting list of several years!
There are even astrologers who are officially employed by the domestic office of the Thai court. For example, there are 13 astrologers who read the horoscope of the King and the Royal family.
As far as I'm concerned, faith and superstition are quite the same thing. Whether you believe in ghosts or in a god, angels, saints and the devil makes no difference to me, personally I think it's all just nonsense. That means to me that a large part of the Dutch population is also (super) religious. Lighting a candle in a church is no different than putting down some food in a spirit house.
Why are people superstitious? I think it has to do with the uncertainty, obscurity and unpredictability of all human existence. People are looking for security, they want to be free from fear and care for the future and they find that in all those rituals. It calms their mind and then they can face it in normal life again. So those rituals and prayers have a certain function. I do understand why people do it. People also often look for an explanation for bad luck and misfortune. 'It's my bad karma', you often hear people in Thailand sigh.
In the Netherlands, the churches filled up during the Second World War. Life in Thailand is in many respects, especially economically and socially, more uncertain than in the Netherlands at that time.
People are therefore traditionally more religious and superstitious if they work in fishing or agriculture. Urk eg. The dangers at sea, the uncertainties of the weather in agriculture. Thailand is traditionally an agricultural country. Religious rituals are actually closely related to compulsive neurotic incantations. People perform compulsive actions to influence fate. If I do not step on the spaces between the tiles, I will get something nice, the child thinks. If I deposit money into the account of the temple tomorrow, my turnover in the restaurant will increase, the adult Thai thinks. The difference? To predict the future? That would only be possible if the future was already fixed, so in fact it exists alongside the present or actually simultaneously with the present? Totally absurd assumption.
I think, Slagerij, that predicting the future often helps too. You are unsure if you will pass the exam and if you can conquer that sweet girl. The fortune teller says that it will certainly work out and you will therefore approach it with much more confidence and therefore with a greater chance of success….
In the West we know Calvinism, which assumes that everything is predestined (predestination). Do you have it bad … is predestined, you are filthy rich and you have all the power … it is the divine will. The Catholics have a predetermined solution to a bad conscience called penance and forgiveness. Day is of course also determined from above, especially who has that power of forgiveness. All other major religions participate in this in their own way. It is God's will, if it is convenient of course and there is some advantage to be gained. If there is a disadvantage, then the other is acting against God's will and must be fought.
Personally, I find those great religions and ideologies with their forms of (super) belief much worse and much more misleading than the simple tinkering with candles, cards and incense sticks by many ordinary simple people.
Curiously, there is a striking similarity between Calvinism and Thai Buddhism. After all, the Thais also assume that the rich are privileged because they have acquired good karma, whether or not in previous lives, and can therefore claim the fullest right to their wealth and privileges. Jan with the Pet agrees because he learns this in the temple and so nothing ever changes.
It is certainly true what you say. I'm just not quite sure if Jan met de Pet still takes all that for sweet cake.....
Then Jan met de Pet has already taken a step forward with the reincarnation! 555
Also no faith is a faith, because you believe that there is nothing after this life.
And ghosts and divination… yes, they exist, only they are elements that do not belong in this world of the physical and that is why you should keep away from them. And also some "normal" people have a kind of divinatory "feeling" and you can use that. Because of such a “feeling” from my ex, my daughter is still alive and for me, yes, that really exists. But there is also a lot of chaff in between the wheat and exploiting it as a medium is out of the question, literally even.
That is the fourth variant: God does not exist, but the evil one does. 🙂
Funny how you try to equate believing with not believing. Atheists do not 'believe' that there is nothing after this life, they have simply never seen evidence that there would be anything and therefore logically assume that there is nothing. So that is not 'faith'; most atheists accept that they don't know what happens after death and so the most logical assumption is "nothing" until proven otherwise.
Confusion here between the terms agnostic and atheist.
Kees describes here the opinion of the agnostic.
The atheist believes nothing, but thinks a lot.
Through logical thinking and a thorough study of science, you come to the conclusion that there is no god at all.
Ho, ho, I hear someone shout! Prove that!
It reminds me of the bizarre day when I had to prove to the Thai embassy in The Hague that I was no longer working.
I don't get AOW, no benefits, no pension or anything.
I have always worked as a freelancer.
I do some odd jobs on the internet and use some savings.
When I asked the man what evidence he wanted to see, he was speechless.
The result is that I now have to 'buy' a visa in Thailand because the man stood his ground.
And so the endless discussion arises again between believers and atheists.
It is to prove that you own a red car. There is no proof that you don't own a red car.
So… believers, where is god?
The atheist knows very well what happens after death.
The light goes out because you cease to exist.
Consciousness returns to the state it was 10 years before your birth.
And that is a comforting idea for the atheist!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tqq66zwa7g
https://www.ted.com/talks/sam_rodriques_neuroscience_s_next_100_years
https://www.ted.com/talks/greg_gage_how_to_control_someone_else_s_arm_with_your_brain?language=en
I have often argued that there is more to this world than we can see and (currently) explain scientifically. Just look at how our brain works.
I therefore do not rule out the possibility that in the (distant) future it will turn out that people who are seen by others in 2018 as predictors of the future, charlatans, pickpockets, shrewd cheaters, turn out to have special qualities (perhaps in their brains, which in some way trained through meditation) that have nothing to do with superstition.
I had to think of a joke when I saw a number of ladies sitting on their knees again this week with smoking sticks between their hands.
If you see a man walking on the street, who is acting exceptionally crazy, you whisper: "van is coming soon".
If you see a group of people walking down the street, acting exceptionally crazy, you say, "Look, that's religion."
Wonderful subject that I have really immersed myself in. People like to be fooled. Fortune tellers, mediums and related figures are masters of psychology, often in combination with probability theory. They use all kinds of detailed techniques such as 'cold readings' and 'hot readings'. They also know that people remember hits and forget misses.
There is no more vulnerable person than someone who has lost a loved one. 'Mediums' that claim to make contact with the deceased abuse this. When contact has been made, it often goes like 'I feel something with the letter E, does that mean something to you?' If such a medium had real contact with the deceased, the deceased wouldn't be playing guessing games, would they? Then wouldn't the deceased just say 'this is Erik here'? Anyway, if you run off some of the most used letters, it will soon hit the mark. The misses are always soon forgotten.
The information is always vague. That's handy, because then you can always adjust a sleeve. If you know that someone is from the Netherlands, you say 'I see water, do you live near water?' for example. The chance of a hit is then quite high, also because 'near' is a very flexible concept.
Also, especially broach other topics that you are almost certain will hit the mark. For example, a 'ring' is often staged; everyone has worn or given a ring and often there is some emotional value to it, which produces good reactions. Sickness is also a good one. "I see someone who has health problems, is there anything bothering you?" If you then say that you are perfectly healthy, it goes from 'someone in your area perhaps?' If the answer is also negative, you can always say 'someone is sick in your area, but you don't know it yet'. Works well, especially with older people. If within a year or so someone in the family or circle of friends falls ill, and that chance is very high, people will think 'the fortune teller had seen that right'.
In addition, there are hundreds of other ways to claim 'special power'. Example: For example, someone can approach gamblers that he can predict the future of sports outcomes. He will prove it by correctly predicting the winner of three random matches. He creates a database of 1200 people that he writes to with the outcome of the 1st match. In 600 emails he claims that A wins, in the other 600 emails he claims that B wins. So for 600 people he is right, he writes off the other 600. For the 2nd game he does the same, this time 300 for A and 300 for B. Now 300 people have already seen him right twice. After the third time, there are 150 who are now convinced that this man has 'special power'. There are quite a few people who then like to hand in their money to this gentleman.
These types of people are regularly exposed. One James Randi, former magician, is a star in that. He has even offered a $1 million prize to anyone who can demonstrate psychic or supernatural powers. The prize has never been paid out.
Beats. There are similarities with conversational techniques in sales training. Ultimately, you can get almost anyone to say yes to an offer, provided you ask the right questions.
I am a real nature lover.
After the birth of my daughter, I went for a nice walk through the woods with the pram, but my mother-in-law didn't allow that because there were evil spirits in the woods.
Never had to laugh so hard (I don't think my mother-in-law was so charmed :-P).