Does Anyone Know the Future?
Does Anyone Know the Future?
Some people have a talent for fortune telling. How do they do it?
This blog today is the result of an email. A person asked if I could
put them in touch with Ramakrishna Sarathy, a New Dehli fortune teller
who I became friends with when flying there years ago as a pilot with
Pan Am. Unfortunately, I had to tell them he had passed.
The person who emailed said, "Back in 1992 he predicted something, which has come true. At the time, I did not understand what exactly he meant, and when and how it would play out in life." She continued saying she is now facing a perplexing situation and would like him, or someone in his organization with the ability to tell the future, to advise her.
I emailed her back as follows:
I don't have anyone to send you to. Ramakrishna told me he had been offered backing to set up an organization. But, he choose not to because, in his experience, spiritual leaders who set up an organization became corrupt.
He had been part of a documentary film about Indian spiritual leaders. They gathered for a few days to do the filming. During the day, cameras recorded them speaking about their religious beliefs and their teachings.
At night the cameras were turned off. Ramakrishna said, without exception, each of the well-known spiritual leaders took part in drunken orgies, behaving in ways opposed to the teachings they were famous for. That, he said, taught him that an organization to expand his influence could take him down a path to corruption. So, no organization exists to refer you to.
As to your concern about the future, Ramakrishna told me "No one knows the future." He said his father was a yogi and that, as a child, he sat in the corner when his father spoke with clients. Suggesting he had intuitively learned his father's skills, Ramakrishna said, "I know two things: I don't know how I know it, but I can read people. That's the first thing. The second thing I know is, people do not change.
You or I, after sending a bowling ball half way down the alley, might have a pretty good idea how many pins will be knocked down, or that the ball is going to end up in the gutter. Remarkably, Ramakrishna had a similar predictive ability with people. When someone consulted him, they were already part way down the alley of their life. By being able to read their trajectory, and knowing they were unlikely to change, he could predict what they would encounter in the future.
Based on conversations with Ramakrishna, the insight I can offer you is that if you can look back at your life and see its trajectory, you may be able to do what he did, and note where you are headed. That is something most of us do not do. But if we can see where our trajectory is taking us, we may be able to alter the path, or to simply accept the path.
This is not so different than what i was taught when studying personality disorder with Dr. James Masterson, M.D. By understanding the client and knowing how their psychopathology walled them in, he - like a fortune teller - could inform them what their future would be unless therapy resulted in change.
For example, a person with borderline personality disorder would, without successful treatment, continue to have unstable relationships. They would be unable to avoid the self-destructive behaviors they were using (drugs, alcohol, sexual acting-out, raging, avoidance of self-activation, etc.) to limit their awareness of their distress inside.
Or, a person with schizoid personality disorder would not be able to have an intimate relationship with another person because of fear of engulfment, or fear of damaging them.
Or, a person with narcissistic personalty disorder would remain focused on their relationship with their own self, and be only superficially engaged with others.
And, the children, if any, of these persons would also have a predictable trajectory.
Which therapy, I wonder, is more likely to change the trajectory of a person's life for the better? Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), insight-based therapy, or relationship-based therapy? Some therapies offer a nudge to alter the current trajectory to a new trajectory. Some, though, aim for more: helping a client learn to steer.
Masterson said personality disorder is like being in a sailboat. The person - instead of steering the boat - drifts with the tides and is blown by the wind. Then, when the boat runs aground, the person curses the circumstances that placed them in an unfortunate position,
In therapy, according to Masterson, the client sees their own trajectory, with the therapist's help. As therapy continues, if the client's defenses against reality are defeated, they can see their trajectory on their own. Finally, some clients develop self-activation, take the helm, and steer their path through life.
Though Ramakriskna said people don't change, there are exceptions. He, himself, demonstrated that if a person sees his own trajectory, he is a presented with a choice: to remain on the trajectory, or to steer.
An article about Ramakrishna by a journalist is at this link. If interested in Dr. Masterson's work, you can sample some of his books on Amazon using the read inside feature.
The person who emailed said, "Back in 1992 he predicted something, which has come true. At the time, I did not understand what exactly he meant, and when and how it would play out in life." She continued saying she is now facing a perplexing situation and would like him, or someone in his organization with the ability to tell the future, to advise her.
I emailed her back as follows:
I don't have anyone to send you to. Ramakrishna told me he had been offered backing to set up an organization. But, he choose not to because, in his experience, spiritual leaders who set up an organization became corrupt.
He had been part of a documentary film about Indian spiritual leaders. They gathered for a few days to do the filming. During the day, cameras recorded them speaking about their religious beliefs and their teachings.
At night the cameras were turned off. Ramakrishna said, without exception, each of the well-known spiritual leaders took part in drunken orgies, behaving in ways opposed to the teachings they were famous for. That, he said, taught him that an organization to expand his influence could take him down a path to corruption. So, no organization exists to refer you to.
As to your concern about the future, Ramakrishna told me "No one knows the future." He said his father was a yogi and that, as a child, he sat in the corner when his father spoke with clients. Suggesting he had intuitively learned his father's skills, Ramakrishna said, "I know two things: I don't know how I know it, but I can read people. That's the first thing. The second thing I know is, people do not change.
You or I, after sending a bowling ball half way down the alley, might have a pretty good idea how many pins will be knocked down, or that the ball is going to end up in the gutter. Remarkably, Ramakrishna had a similar predictive ability with people. When someone consulted him, they were already part way down the alley of their life. By being able to read their trajectory, and knowing they were unlikely to change, he could predict what they would encounter in the future.
Based on conversations with Ramakrishna, the insight I can offer you is that if you can look back at your life and see its trajectory, you may be able to do what he did, and note where you are headed. That is something most of us do not do. But if we can see where our trajectory is taking us, we may be able to alter the path, or to simply accept the path.
This is not so different than what i was taught when studying personality disorder with Dr. James Masterson, M.D. By understanding the client and knowing how their psychopathology walled them in, he - like a fortune teller - could inform them what their future would be unless therapy resulted in change.
For example, a person with borderline personality disorder would, without successful treatment, continue to have unstable relationships. They would be unable to avoid the self-destructive behaviors they were using (drugs, alcohol, sexual acting-out, raging, avoidance of self-activation, etc.) to limit their awareness of their distress inside.
Or, a person with schizoid personality disorder would not be able to have an intimate relationship with another person because of fear of engulfment, or fear of damaging them.
Or, a person with narcissistic personalty disorder would remain focused on their relationship with their own self, and be only superficially engaged with others.
And, the children, if any, of these persons would also have a predictable trajectory.
Which therapy, I wonder, is more likely to change the trajectory of a person's life for the better? Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), insight-based therapy, or relationship-based therapy? Some therapies offer a nudge to alter the current trajectory to a new trajectory. Some, though, aim for more: helping a client learn to steer.
Masterson said personality disorder is like being in a sailboat. The person - instead of steering the boat - drifts with the tides and is blown by the wind. Then, when the boat runs aground, the person curses the circumstances that placed them in an unfortunate position,
In therapy, according to Masterson, the client sees their own trajectory, with the therapist's help. As therapy continues, if the client's defenses against reality are defeated, they can see their trajectory on their own. Finally, some clients develop self-activation, take the helm, and steer their path through life.
Though Ramakriskna said people don't change, there are exceptions. He, himself, demonstrated that if a person sees his own trajectory, he is a presented with a choice: to remain on the trajectory, or to steer.
An article about Ramakrishna by a journalist is at this link. If interested in Dr. Masterson's work, you can sample some of his books on Amazon using the read inside feature.
