|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Does Pluto control Mickey's life?Reader comment on item: Is Radical Islam in Decline? Submitted by Michael S (United States), Sep 19, 2016 at 02:31 Hi, Moh. You said, "On another occasion - some time later another female friend who was right into it asked me my star sign. I told her 'Gemini' - which I am not - in order to see her reaction. Straight away she could see all my 'Gemini' attributes." Of course, I had also mentioned that reading the "sun sign" horoscopes in the newspapers is bogus -- it is as you learned: The "attributes' of the various sun sign "groups" of people are so generally written, that anyone can think they pertain to them. On this matter, 1. From the point of view of someone I considered a pretty good astrologer -- namely, MY female friend (those women seem to have had quite an influence on our lives), the sun sign is not as easy to pick out as the ascendant, or rising sign. The latter deals with our appearance, and with how we deal with people and with immediate situations. The sun sign, on the other hand, is more about things we feel are important. A Pisces, for instance, looks upon life as something to UNDERSTAND; an Aries sun person looks upon it as something to DO, an Aquarius as something to REFORM, etc. You can't see these things immediately in a person, the way that lady correctly guessed my rising sign. 2. Yes, those "sun sign" horoscopes are bunk. Many atheists, therefore, are correct in agreeing with this estimation. Many Christians, on the other hand, see astrology as flat-out evil, curiously agreeing with the atheists in rejecting it. Then there are superstitious folk of all kinds, including many Pagans, who curiously agree with those Christians, attributing magical, mystical power to astrology. No matter what group we are talking about, people DO fit into different "types" of personality, and some find it advantageous to try to classify them for personal advantage. We thus have classes, intensely studied by Christian pastors and leaders, to help them to peg people into "personality types" at the same time that they reject astrology. The whole process is evil, in my mind, because the underlying motive is to manipulate people to do what you want them to do. You went on, "Some obvious points : Pluto's gravity would influence me less than the gravity field of my car. And constellations are totally arbitrary." I completely agree, as you know. I think this is similar to the "Spooky at a Distance" problem: people are not being influence by some force from Pluto. Rather, both Pluto and the person are influenced by an underlying, unseen law -- just as molecular bonds are explained by the adding of invisible "wavefunctions". I believe the whole universe has an underlying order; but we do not directly observe that order. Instead, we observe the RESULT of that order. Also, concerning one's horoscope, or star chart, and how it "controls" one's life: The time and place in which someone is born, does not CONTROL his (or her -- an important distinction) destiny: It simply is part of the environment he lives and moves in. An American born in Westminster on the Queen's birthday, for instance, will never become Queen of England. Neither will a British citizen of common birth; and neither would the Queen's twin brother, if she had one (He might become the Monarch, but not the Queen). Even if QEII had an identical twin sister, sharing both her genes and her horoscope, would not have become the Queen; and if QEII would choose to abdicate, as her uncle had done, neither would SHE now be the ruler of the royal realms. We are all born into certain circumstances, our horoscopes being one such sort of circumstance; but other circumstances, chance and free will all come into play in determining our lives. You went on, "So instead - they had amongst others, an 'emu' constellation. Did people born under that sign have long necks and a very curious nature?" Perhaps... but after some 2000 years, the "Emu" is now shifted by 30°, into the neighboring sign (the Wallaby?). The mathematical relationships between the Earth, Sun and planets, however, would not be affected by the constellations. You went on, "Quantum mechanics shows we live in a bizarre universe where information is king - you'd probably enjoy this conference: http://www.informationuniverse.rug.nl/." I don't plan to go to that conference; I'm too overwhelmed with ordinary, everyday things. It does sound interesting, though. Considering the first point it would bring up: "- Is the universe one big information processing machine?" I have a definite opinion, that it is. I assume the information being processed is, as you've probably guessed, the word of God. The universe, and its parts, probably process this information in a way similar to the way our cells process their DNA. What, then, would happen if some faux DNA were substituted for God's word? That would be like a virus invading a cell. This is what happens when a person believes a lie instead of the truth: his hardware and software function just as well as a truth-believer's; but his input is changed, often with disastrous consequences. Could planets and asteroids be "hacked" to believe false input? I'm sure there are those who would love to have this power. Fortunately, they do not yet have it. God bless and keep you and yours. Michael :-) Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments". Reader comments (75) on this item
|
Latest Articles |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes (The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998. For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.) |