Does Astrology Really Functions
Posted on 11/09/2013 I by: Suruchi
We often encounter intellectual constructs of people who belong to scientific world or only think they know something about science stating it is unbelievable or impossible or weird to suppose that "planets exert influence upon mankind". They argue thus by introducing countless mechanisms known to contemporary physics; from the theory of gravity to electromagnetic theory.
Before we set to explain the principle underlying the truthfulness of astrology, we have to state clearly: planets do not influence man on the premises of Newtonian mechanics! There is no classical cause-effect relationship between human life and gravitational or wave or any other kind of mathematical equations concerning any planet, the way it (without real apprehension of the subject matter) is perpetually repeated. Hence, even if in a million years’ time science discovers some totally different kind of physics, still the nature of the bond between the heaven and the earth underlying astrology and its world view, won’t be causally explicable! This is of primary importance for astrologers themselves.
They are the first who need to understand this because by thinking and arguing differently, they damage astrology itself, displaying elementary misunderstanding of the matter they practice. It is preposterous when a practicing astrologer degrades the notion of astrology to the level of causal mechanics. In such instances, let’s be realistic, we can’t stake a claim to any kind of high-ground regarding modern scientific world and we shouldn’t complain about their recurrent attacks on astrology. So, let us proceed in an orderly manner … Stoicism introduced the notion of destiny into philosophy.
According to their view destiny represents supernatural, universal law which directs the whole creation. Furthermore, the stoics argue this law’s influence isn’t limited, but is affecting the whole universe. The purpose of man’s life doesn’t consist in tricking it or creating some new law of his own; everything a human being is allowed to do, ought to do and has to do consists in getting familiar with the natural laws which regulate the creation and after that, finding his own place within it. This kind of a broad role of human existence clearly depicts the stoic idea of inextricable bond permeating the whole of creation. This connection, however, is by no means causal but has its roots in the profoundest, elementary level. It emanates from the so-called initial attunement of the universe and hence leads us necessarily to the notion of Creator who created the universe with a particular purpose or, if we delve in this kind of argument a bit deeper, we may conclude that the universe (and every particular it encompasses) has its meaning.
It is not a product of a mere chance, let alone chaotic circumstances without rules; the whole universe is grounded upon predestined order which took its shape in the moment of creation. In this manner one can easily demonstrate that in reality there’s absolutely no enmity between astrology and faith though this remains to be discussed in one of the following texts. But let’s get back to (non)causality. If we comprehend the universe as a totality of entities (events) which are inextricably interconnected, whose relationship isn’t causal but the result of order and meaning existing in the moment of creation, then we have to deal with entirely new premises and causality becomes too scant (in philosophical sense) to explain anything. Let’s take this example: a watchmaker’s got two entirely different watches, one of them classical and another digital. He sets both of them to identical time and activates them in the same moment. When someone who doesn’t know what a watch is, sees these two gadgets, he can easily be deceived. He may observe the classical one and see when the pointers in it designate noon, the display on the digital watch also shows changes in numerals. Hence he may conclude that the activity of the pointers "influences" the change of the numerals in the digital watch – or the reverse.
However, neither of these two possible conclusions is correct because the imaginary observer doesn’t take into account the watchmaker who set both of the watches to show the exact same time before he activated them; as an intrinsic property of each of the watches, a second was designated to last for an equally long amount of time. The result is obvious: two totally separated entities, being in no way causally connected, act entirely synchronously, so perfectly that one may erroneously suppose direct causality between them. In our example, one watch may represent the planets and their movement, the other one the unfolding of a human life. For this reason, we cannot say that the planets "influence" people in the sense in which the word "influence" is applied in the context of Newtonian mechanics.
A more appropriate designation would be – planets describe human life! Since one watch may serve to describe the current time measurement of another watch, this same principle, by analogy, is equally applicable to the relationship existing between human life and the movement of the planets. The workings of the whole mechanism rests upon the total attunement of the universe which was, as already explained, inaugurated in the initial moment of creation. Every watch, as we have learned, functions exclusively and autonomously on the premises of its own mechanism. So when we say, for instance, that it is impossible to escape certain kind of destiny, we by no means endorse the notion that "the planets don’t allow for this/that to happen", but something much more profound: man himself doesn’t allow for X to happen (or not to happen)! We always have to bear in mind that each watch functions exclusively on the premises of its own characteristics. And the second watch may serve to describe the first.
Thus we reach the key conclusion: planets’ role in astrology doesn’t consist in their "influencing" man in the sense of active planetary prohibition or permission for any kind of event; their role is to enable us to understand more fully what man’s own nature lets (or doesn’t let) him accomplish! We should, of course, always bear in mind that all of this wouldn’t be possible in the universe ruled by chaos. This mechanism can only function if we understand the universe as a meaningful creation ruled by its rules of existence, testified to by the lives of each of us.
The bond between human life and the position of the planets is much more complicated and shall we say, more intimate than the cause-effect explanations are able to describe. On the contrary, this bond constitutes the means through which in every moment we witness the fact that the whole universe, hence also we as its inseparable part – has meaning. A good deal of inspiration and insight in these matters can be found in the works of the Stoic philosophers. Another nice instance of functioning systems not connected by causality but still working synchronously is Leibnitz’s theory of monad (monadology). In any case, those who are interested will find additional, very appealing explanations of these principles in the abovementioned sources.