Deciphering Your Life Purpose
from Your Fingerprints

RICHARD UNGER

INTRODUCTION
THE NEXT EXTRAORDINARY MAP

It is not worth the while to go round the world to count the cats of Zanzibar,” says Thoreau. “Be rather the Lewis and Clark . . . of your own streams and oceans, explore your own higher latitudes. . . .” With this metaphor, Thoreau extends the purview of mapping . . . to the self and solitude and the soul. Perhaps the next extraordinary map is not of galaxies or the interior of atoms but something quite different, something Thoreau called “home cosmography.”

—STEPHEN S. HALL, MAPPING THE NEXT MILLENNIUM

I am a professional hand analyst.
I estimate that I have read over 52,000 pair of hands thus far in my hand reading career. About half my clients are therapists, counselors, or their clients; the other half are businesspeople, artists, housewives, candlestick makers— anyone who wants to learn more about their life purpose and life lessons.

I know there is an image problem associated with hand reading. “Cross my palm with silver. I see a tall, dark stranger . . . .” When people think of hand reading, if they think of it at all, the image is that of a roadside fortune-teller. Certainly, some fit this description, but most modern hand readers have long since left their crystal balls behind. As far as I have been able to determine, your hands do not know how many children you will have or how long you are going to live. Your hands do, however, have a very specific picture of your life purpose printed out in your fingerprints.

THE BIRTH OF LIFEPRINTS

In the summer of 1969, having just finished the active duty portion of my National Guard commitment I needed something to revive my spirits. Neil Armstrong was about to take “one small step for mankind,” but I had a different adventure in mind. I set out to explore America.

On that trip, in a little bookstore in Boulder, Colorado, a used palmistry book somehow caught my attention. According to its diagrams, I was the type of person who needed a mission in life. You could say that about anybody, I thought, but I bought the book anyway thinking it would be fun. Two days later, I was totally hooked on hands.

I was amazed at how accurate hand reading was, even if only 10 percent of what was visible in someone’s hands made sense to me. I was delighted to have such meaningful conversations with people with whom I probably wouldn’t have talked for more than five minutes otherwise. More importantly, reading hands gave a part of me that I barely knew an opportunity to emerge. The more hands I read, the more this “me” came forward and I liked the way that felt.

Returning to college that fall, I devoted myself to studying hands. I would carry around The Laws of Scientific Hand Reading by William Benham, cut classes, and read hands in the snack bar for hours at a time. My sparse knowledge of the subject didn’t stop me from being convinced there was something to it, and in the proper spirit of collegiate inquiry, I set out to learn as much as possible. Looking at hands every day, I would tell people a thing or two and ask them to fill in the blanks about their interests, relationships, etc., comparing what they told me to the differing versions presented in my small collection of palmistry books. (more) Read more of LifePrints Chapter one.