issue41 [OB小组] 第21次作业 主流与非主流

xiao8686UID: 2266881

TOPIC: ISSUE41 - "Such nonmainstream areas of inquiry as astrology, fortune-telling, and psychic and paranormal pursuits play a vital role in society by satisfying human needs that are not addressed by mainstream science."
WORDS:676         TIME: 00:44:42+5：00          DATE: 2007-8-3 下午 10:26:57

In this issue, the author states that nonmainstream areas of inquiry like astrology, fortune-telling and psychic and paranormal pursuits play a important role in society because they satisfy those human needs that are not addressed by mainstream science. I agree with the author insofar as the nonmainstream areas of inquiry indeed greet people's curiosity and certain mental needs. However, this does not enable every nonmainstream area of inquiry indispensable to the society. In my observation, the paranormal pursuits are crucial to the society while the other inquiries though have their merits could be substituted by relatively harmless methods.

First of all, the pursuits of paranormal and preternatural phenomena satisfy people’s desire to untangle the mysteries of the unknown since the mainstream science which requires solid proof and evidences is usually inherently unable to address them. Nevertheless, the curious nature of human being drives people to dabble or even explore further in those areas to seek out the truth or just seemingly reasonable explanations. For thousands of years, people have been puzzled by the nature and then unraveled the mysteries. In the process of decoding the nature, the supposition and hypothesis is indispensable. Without questioning in the first place, there will be no phase of solving the pending qualms sequentially no matter the initial conjecture is correct or not. For instance, the query of ghost fire lead to the discovery of Pb’s attributes of self-combustion in certain circumstances. Therefore, in the paranormal or supernatural pursuits, though there are no scientific proofs to substantiate all the hypothesis and supposition there may be still some hidden truth waiting for people to unveil. In that case, while satisfying people's curiosity and needs to understand the truth of nature the non-mainstream areas of inquiry also function as the initializer of the scientific methods to approach the truth of the universe by bringing about the first conjectures.

Second of all, the study and belief in those areas of inquiries like fortune-telling, astrology and etc provide spiritual anchor or incentive for people who are emotionally vulnerable and need mental supports. For example, fortune-telling reveals the would-be promising future of someone who is frustrated by obstacles and has difficulties in moving forward in life. Thereby it could ignite the incentive of the individual to fight for better future with the faith of the promising incoming. Astrology can affect people in the same way. For instance, it predicts the area such as career that people born in certain period of time in a year may achieve the climax in this month. Thus, the responding people may be more energetic, confident and assiduous at work. Accordingly, they might get promoted or have salary raised in the month. In sum, the psychological effects the nonmainstream areas of inquiry have on human being enable them practically vital to cheer people up. Nonetheless, these nonmainstream areas of inquiry may exert detrimental influences on people at the same time. While depending on these inquiries for too much time, people may easily be indulged in the illusion these inquiries posed. Consequently, people lose the ability to make their own decision and be vigilant about the situation. What are worse, people could be so convinced with the power of the nonmainstream inquiries that they quit working and the regular socialization but foreseeing the future. Hence, these nonmainstream areas of inquiries can be substituted by other scientific approaches like possessing faith in hard work and the payback of it, values in constructing better world and the benefits that will bring to our offspring and so forth. They can provide spiritual anchor and support as well as being healthy to the lifestyle of individuals.

In conclusion, those nonmainstream areas of inquiries like the paranormal pursuits can be pivotal to the society since they start the question of unexplainable phenomena which can not be approached by mainstream science yet crucial to be decoded for the purpose of social advancement. Those nonmainstream areas of inquiries like fortune telling and astrology and physic though own certain benefits in encouraging people can be supplemented by other scientific methods.