Issue41 我的第一篇 请帮忙看看！！

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【Issue 41】
"Such non-mainstream 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."

提纲

不完全同意

1.有一定的作用  a.满足科学解释不了的好奇心，消除对自然的恐惧。 例子：古人对雷电的解释

                     b.如何抉择

                     c.心灵的慰藉，

2.危害

a.过于依赖，会导致逆来顺受，不再奋斗，不利于社会发展

b.过于迷信，导致行为只受‘荒谬的信仰’所控制，刚愎自用、反社会；邪教组织

I agree with that the non-mainstream areas of inquiry-astrology, fortune-telling, and psychic and paranormal pursuits-play a certain role in society, in particular when the mainstream science fails to interpret and address the problems encountered by humans. Nevertheless, undue trust and dependence lead to some risks which might be fairly dangerous to individuals and society if we don’t take any action to minimize.

Admittedly, the non-mainstream areas of inquiry address people’s needs of curiosity for mysterious and unexplained phenomenon and occurrences that existed during their daily lives. The inexplicable things may produce the sense of uneasiness and fear. To solve the problem, the non-mainstream areas present a explanation, which might be irrational, irrelevant to the coherent nature of the problem or even ridiculous to a great extent, to at least give a reason to the unknown and then to satisfy the people’s curiosities. To illustrate the point evidently, here is an example that is persuasive. It was not easy for early persons to interpret the principle for the formation of lightning and thunder. Prior to the emergence of scientific interpretation, people would prefer to believe that (想举古代人对雷电的认识的例子,但没组织好语言，抱歉), which was a kind of saying in the non-stream areas. Without the supernatural saying, people would be upset even frightened and keep thinking how it happens.

Another need has to do with the decision-making. When a vital decision of whether execute some plan or not is going to be made, people to some extent appear a feeling of self-distrust due to the fear of failure even though all of the qualifications prepared for the decision are all set. At this time, they will seek help from the astrology of the sort to get the last support-even a word or a positive hint-to take action self-assuredly. Given that the result of the astrology is negative, whether the decision-maker continues their plan or not? It depends on the true opinion of the decision-maker. If he really wants to accomplish the plan, he will seek help from astrology again or from other similar way to confirm his belief or even straightly take action in spite of the negative implication. But if he does not want to, it is the pretext to cancel the plan. Simply put, the non-mainstream areas of inquiry offer a comfort to the decision-makers to make them energetic to do and contented to give up.

A third need is about the consolation to the hurt of feeling. When a beloved person pass away, it is human nature to have recourse to the non-mainstream areas of inquiry to “contact with ” the lost people and thus release sorrow and longing. At this very moment，knowing that it is hopeless and impossible to truly get in touch with the person again, they may prefer to believe that “spirit” exists. Only in this way, the distressed people have the courage and hope to confront the life with day after day.
Although the non-mainstream areas of inquiry play such a important role in fulfilling the needs of human being, undue pursuit and dependence can pose problems which may impede the development of society and even do harm to the society.

Undue dependence on the non-stream areas of inquiry means participants’ losing themselves. The improvement of society, especially the science and technology, relies on the persons who believe in themselves and do well in thinking independently. But with the completely trust in the non-stream areas, people incline to resort to the supernatural power as soon as they subject to difficulties, and they will do strictly what “the oracle” tell them to do. If succeed, it is because the oracle works; If lose, it is then a destiny. People in this circumstance would no longer struggle themselves in promoting the development of society, and then the advancement of human race would be impeded.

Not only may undue trust in the non-stream areas of inquiry be negative to boost the development of society, but it can also be destructive to the society. Some lawbreakers or lunatic persons import antisocial ideas to the people, who are in need of being comforted or easy to be incited, to oppose to the society. On a personal level, the misguided people would be self-righteous, intolerant, and even hostile to others. Moreover, on a societal level, it would lead to holy wars, genocide and mass persecution of the sort atrocities.

To sum up, I concede that the non-stream pursuits are essential to meet people’s psychological needs. However, when the pursuits are outside the normal range or even be exploited by lawbreakers, participants begin to abandon reason as an impediment to enlightenment. Thus, they risk making immoral choices and endangering social stability-a risk in my view overshadows the rewards of those pursuits.