line of best fit

I was watching Criminal Minds on MIO and it had this interesting episode - some police dept consulted a psychic about serial abductions - which some Criminologists feel to be very unscientific i.e. not evidenced based etc. One team member of the crime unit decided to be unconventional and hear the psychic out. He came up with a clue - that the victim was being held near a 'rocky coastline'. When the team finally found the victim, she was in the city somewhere - and everyone was obviously thinking - hey that psychic is a quack - but when they drew open the curtains, they saw this huge building poster of a lighthouse - rocky coastline, rough waves.

What I'm trying to say is, the truth is not always so clear.

In Asia, this is common and rooted in the different religious/ethnic foundations. Although I am not one of those whose life depends very much on what the psychic says, I do not believe that psychics do not exist and that all of them are quacks.

As with all things, the picture is never clear until we know what the big picture is. When fixing a jig-saw puzzle, we have the actual completed puzzle within sight, so that we are able to fix the correct piece into the correct position. Life is the same - psychics may be able to tell us something, but it may not be in all clarity, since we do not have a blueprint of our entire destiny, fate or life.

Many seek the advice of tarot card readers etc when they are at the cross roads of their life. It's not wrong, but as open as we are to comments, we must be able to accept the advice at a larger level - take the advice as part of a puzzle and until we have a clear idea of the space surrounding the problem, the advice may be misinterpreted and our actions misdirected.

Sitcoms may be sitcoms, but that episode fringes upon reality i.e. a lot of people in Asia go for spiritual/psychic help.

Question, if we had the big picture, we probably won't need to seek the tarot card readers help. Wrong.

As humans in distress, we want instant gratification.

Life doesn't work out that way - time doesn't move as quickly as we wish.

So instead of instant gratification, we should (for believers) take the advice, see how that fits into the general flow of things and find the 'line of best fit'. Only then, will the advice be worthwhile.

It's like having someone tell you - oh, you're not going to be doing well in this job - do we quit immediately? Nope, we could take that advice and turn it into a job hunt for something better.