I believe in astrology, am I old-fashioned?
Do you think sun signs have any significance? I’m a piscean. So I’m an unexciting sober introvert who is not a great company. Well, not entirely true as I was good enough to a find a non-piscean girl. Sun signs do talk about personalities. Some may find it ridiculous to group the whole population in twelve types of personalities. But I don’t think it’s entirely wrong. I mean, the people I know, I would fit them all in five or six categories, not even twelve.
Sun signs were not invented by Linda Goodman. And sun signs are not a thing of Western Astrology. Sun signs and moon signs are described very well in the ancient hindu astrology. There, sun sign denotes the body and moon sign denotes the mind. Sun signs talk about personalities and how someone is seen by the others. Moon signs talk about what emotional side of the person. Therefore, sun sign alone may not be sufficient to judge a person. You need to combine the qualities of the sun sign and the moon sign for a decent package. But sun signs, moon signs, ‘your day today’ and ’signs this week’ are not astrology. They are pieces of astrology which may not make full sense when used in isolation. By now you’d have understood that I believe in astrology. That makes me a bit old-fashioned, isn’t it? Sadly enough, I can’t even prove to you how it works. I cannot convince you.
Some people don’t believe astrology. That’s because they don’t ‘believe’. I believe in ancient hindu astrology. When you believe in astrology you’re either old-fashioned or superstitious or lacking self-confidence. Those are perceptions that are hard to erase. When I say I believe, let me clarify that I’ve never consulted astrology or sought any help from an astrologer or sought to know my future. Now you may ask, is it possible to predict the future? The way I see it, astrology is a science. It has its own methods, formulae and theories. It can predict the future and those predictions can go wrong, just like it happens with any science. Astrological predictions are like those by-pass heart surgeries. There are proofs of concept that it works. But it depends a lot on who performs it and various other circumstances. Just because a by-pass surgery fails we should not be doubting medical science.
Astrologers are like bloggers. To be an astrologer, you don’t need a degree or a certificate. So anyone can be an astrologers. Most of the amateur astrologers give astrology a bad name. Because of them, astrology has even become a joke. Reminds me of the local meteorological office. When they say it will rain, it will be sunny like sun has come closer by a million miles. That’s a local joke because they get it wrong most of the times. That’s why people don’t really take bloggers or astrologers or meteorologists any seriously.
The fake astrologers are like magicians. They show you what you want to see.
Astrologer: You must be a very hard worker. You’ll give anything and everything for your work. Right?
Astronut: Absolutely. You’re right!
Astrologer: You hate lies. You hate being lied to.
Astronut: You got it. My blood boils when I’m lied to!!
Astrologer: You’re a very creative person. You get upset when you’re ideas are not considered.
Astronut: Spot on. Looks like you know me better than I do!!!
(By this time, it is clear that the astronut is willing to get laid. Now comes the business end of the discussions which wins the bread)
Astrologer: You have some loans and that worries you.
Astronut: Yes, it drives me crazy. That’s why I’m here.
Astrologer: Okay now, what you need to do is . . .
Whatever he prescribes, if it works, the astrologer becomes a legend otherwise he can blame it on anything including the fact that the ‘astronut’ had his kitchen facing north and his gas stove facing west.
Let’s be clear. Unreliable astrologers should not mean astrology is unreliable. Astrology has stood thousands of years. I think the basis of astrology could be statistics. Suppose you survey a group of 1000 people wearing blue shirts and 800 of them are very positive-minded. Suppose you survey another group of 1000 people wearing white shirts of which 900 are very pessimistic and skeptical. Your survey conclusion would be that wearing blue shirts generates positivity and creates vibrancy whereas wearing the white shirt makes you negative. When you’re wearing a particular shirt, if 9 out of 10 times, your day has been fantastic, you’d ‘believe’ that it’s your lucky shirt and would wear for the right occasions. It’s all probability based on track record or past data.
Now take a bunch of 1000 pisceans and study they personality and behaviour. I’m sure you’re going to find lots of similarities. That’s because, before someone for the first time wrote that Pisceans are unexciting sober introverts that you should avoid, the survey and study must have happened. That is, thousands of years back, before the earliest scriptures of hindu astrology was written. My take is, it is a pattern. I need not be the introvert of highest degree because I’m a piscean but most pisceans could be. That’s statistics. That’s trend analysis and study of patterns. While this is understandable, you can still ask why should all pisceans be so boring? Why Sun in Pisces makes someone an introvert? That’s a bigger question. That’s where the fundamental belief of ‘planets do influence lives’ comes in. It’s like saying, ‘I know blue shirt is your lucky shirt but why?’.
Astrology is not just sun signs and moon signs. It is much deeper. Astrology is also based on mathematics and astronomy. Do not ask me how astrology works? I don’t have an answer. I’m sure this is not the only question for which you and I don’t have an answer. I certainly believe that astrology works because I believe planets can influence the people’s lives. There are so many things that we don’t understand. We call them luck, fortune, God, unknown, unknowable etc. Wait for a few years for a NASA group of researchers to come up with a paper to say that planets of the universe can influence people’s lives. Some might even win a nobel prize for that.
Now, go ahead. Knock me down!
I dont believe in astrology. Because the last time I did, while poring over a Linda Goodman’s thick Sun Signs books with my school-mates, no one’s boyfriend turned out to be anyone’s husbands after all
I liked the part about astrologers being like bloggers and no one taking either or even meteorologists (poor things!) seriously.
The argument for astrology was very well presented and I agree, people do exhibit certain qualities of their respective sun signs. Although i know a few people who are cusps and opt to choose a particular sign and immediately start behaving like one
Mr. Opinion,
Great way to learn about astrology . . .
Mr. Opinion, you have mentioned – “I certainly believe that astrology works because I believe planets can influence the people’s lives.”
Which means, there are some lifeless planets revolving around the sun, which influences our lives !!!
Going by what you say, if planets can influence our lives on earth (co-planet), then why it is not possible for Venus, Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto & Mercury to have lives.
I have a few questions relating to the influence it has on one’s life . . .
Let’s discuss , how a life can be influenced & what are the parameters, probabilities, possibilities & conditions applicable.
Conditions – A nice word. A life in India is mostly influenced by its culture, society, human beings, love & emotion.
One step drill down we end up in Emotion.
Emotion – Love, anger, hatred, pride, lust, disgust, fear etc.
These emotions are all part of our life in certain stages, sometimes in a continous basis. We human beings are not Lord Krishna, Jesus or prophet Muhammed to forego all the above mentioned emotional icons in our life.
How can a lifeless planet like Jupiter, Pluto or Mercury can influence the emotions ?
Emotions are much more powerful than planets.
Prithvi,
No life is needed in Jupiter to influence Earth(for that matter any planet). Sun influences all the planets which revolve around it. According to your understanding if sun does not have life how can earth have one.
Imagine planets in the place of religion. Just because you are born in one religion, you will have influence of that religion in you. Don’t you agree?
Brain can be influenced by electromagnetic rays. If Jupiter(example) can emit electromagnetic rays then there is absolute possibility that your brain reacts to that. How your brain reacts if there is some logic and if somebody can interpret this logic, then that’s interesting
Emotions are easy. Now sitting in home i can influence your emotions…. Don’t you agree.
A lifeless garbage dump near my home can influence me and make me feel bad about it. If garbage dump can do it, Sun can
Funny how we talk about lifeless things when it comes to astrology while we travel hundreds of miles and buy special tickets for dharshan and stand in a line to see a lifeless stone-carved statue? How is that the most intelligent live species worship these lifeless stone-carved statues and expect them to react and respond, while the planets appear lifeless and useless to us?
Like Shankar said, anything influence humans. It is a scientific truth that the tidal waves would be unusually high on full moon days. Why does this happen while both moon and ocean are lifeless? There is a scientific explanation to this that I don’t understand. If moon can influence a lifeless ocean, why can’t it influence us?
Belief in astrology or in god maybe old-fashioned, but not old-fashioned like visiting a temple every Friday. We grow up believing these things and when we reach a stage where we are capable of questioning things that we had earlier accepted from our parents, elders, and other environmental factors, some of us question them and some of us dont’.
During my late teens, I believed in a lot of things spiritual and religious. During my second year in college, I read some literary fiction and a bit of philosophy which changed the way I saw everything. I found the ideas of god, soul, ghosts, karma, et al ridiculous. I have had some really bad situations in life since then. But I’ve never, like some proud atheists do, prayed to god in a moment of despair and weakness. That doesn’t make me modern. I’m half traditional and half radical. It looks like you didn’t have the kind of mind altering experience I had.
But do you believe in user friendliness? Increase the font size please!
Mind-altering experience? Oh yes big time! The way I look at life has changed completely since then. I think that’s true for everyone. Some see it earlier, some see it later.
Big time? Which one are you talking about?
The one where I was inches and seconds away from the oncoming train smashing me to pieces. Someone can lose a life in a matter of a second. All that it takes is a momentary madness or negligence. That’s my shakeup.
Yeah, I understand! Again it comes to individual perception. Had it happened to me, it would have been a memorable escape without divine intervention.
Oho! There was no divine intervention in my case too
I hope I didn’t sound that way!
Hi Shankar,
I have a different view here Shankar.
“Emotions are easy. Now sitting in home i can influence your emotions…. Don’t you agree” – I beg to disagree with your quote mentioned here. For me emotions are great,a must, a teacher, honesty etc . . .
I take emotion to refer to a feeling & its distinctive thoughts,psychological & biological states, & range of propensities to act.
This is the same word, whose precise meaning psychologists & philosophers have quibbled over for more than a century.
Emotions, certainly is not easy Shankar… I agree, it depends on the inviduals eye, how he/she sees emotion.But , I, see it as a great & a valuable asset,which we all posses. . .
What is your opinion ?
Prithvi,
I respect your opinions.
Coming back to the topical subject, planets can in influence your emotions or preciesly, planets too can influence your emotions.
@Vijay,
I don’t think that people who believe in astrology are old fashioned – but I do find the practice of believing in daily horoscopes funny. Many people confuse between these, and use them as synonyms – which is not the case
Hi Hashir,
You are absolutely right…
Certain things are hard to believe. Planets influencing us is also one such. Belief is something personal and unique. If the belief got to be made public people expect scientific evidence. Science has it’s own limits as well and everything cannot be proved.
Science can only describe already existing unknown facts and science cannot explain further. Heart pumps blood through the body, why? Human cells multiply and humans grow, how? Earth revolves around sun, Since when? We are in Universe, where is Universe? If someone is able to answer these questions then He or She is the right person to answer our question of planets influencing humans as well.
Believing in astrology is certainly not old fashion. Astrology itself talks about future. Humans have the nature to believe only positive things. Suppose an astrologer says someone cannot pass through the upcoming examination, a person with positive attitude would like to prove it wrong whereas the other will put the blame on fate and time. Same applies even for love matches. I have not seen any couple parting just for the sake of horoscopes. They would rather close it and try to prove things wrong. They would like to listen or open it only when there is positive news!
It’s nice to have someone say your future is going to bloom. Do I believe in astrology depends only on what my astrologer says
! I am certainly NOT old fashioned!