Astrology, Existentialism and Hope
University philosopy students, the young ones in particular. Still late teens, they start getting a list of philosophers in their minds which they can rattle off, with quotes from some, and after a few discussions are full on philosophers themselves. Well, something like that.
I don't like philosophers who don't understand astrology. Camus is an example. That whole existentialistic/nihilistic school preaches the absurdity of life, but they don't have even the beginning of a full set of the conditions under which life operates. That's why I took a blade and cut the whole lot out of my life and mind. We don't have the set either, but we have tools which they are not even aware of when they make their assumptions about the nature of life, and if there is a purpose or meaning to life.
Thing about philosophy is, what I process is that it is various schools of thought about everything.... more sociology than psychology, that goes without saying. So, a great thinker like Socrates comes up with his interpretation of life, and explains it well. Then the Stoics and Epicurians squabble about it for a few hundred years, branching off with new lines or opposing his directly. Other thinkers develop their own ideas which have a similar evolution.
So, a few decades, hundreds or even thousands of years pass, the schools of thought endure. Then, new minds go to uni and get exposed to the different approaches. Invariably, they eventually get asked, "So, what school of thought do you subscribe to in particular, and why?" And off go the thesisists (hope that's a word), and explain in great detail why, and the squabbling goes on.
And on and on and on. If someone thinks about it long enough, they will invariably come up with a fairly unique eclectic basket of their own. If they develop their ideas enough, and explain them enough, they might even establish their own new school of thought, like Ayn Rand did with objectivism, probably derived from existentialism, I couldn't be bothered to research where she drew her roots from.
The way I see the world, there are 4 levels to constructive thinking. In order of power:
1. Amulets, Mantras, Subliminal suggestion, Autosuggestion. Rabbits' feet. Lucky hats. Good luck charms. Chan chu, pak kai mirrors etc. The list is endless. 2. Positive thinking. 3. Faith/Belief. 4. Knowledge.
Knowledge is the most powerful of all.
And I note, with philosophers, after 3 or 5 decades of churning over ideas and theories, they eventually come up with the answer, "I DON'T KNOW".
So, no problem with that. We don't expect anyone to really know. Fine, happy with that.
But, in my worldly trip, I came across a thing called astrology. Read many of the schools of thought, and although many disagreed on the finer issues, I eventually came up with my own answer, "I KNOW". I don't know all, perhaps not even half of it, but "I KNOW".
Hence, astrology sticks with me and philosophy goes out the window with the bathwater, probably with something that was worthwhile, but in my mind, not that worthwhile.
There's this story about faith and belief, I'll add my part.
In the middle of the night, you go walking with me somewhere here.
We come across a railway track. I tell you to lie on it when a train can be heard approaching.
1. You lie on it, but as the train gets nearer, you see the lights come around the bend. you get up and off the track. You believed me, up to a point, but you did not have faith in me.
2. You have absolute faith in me. Perhaps I am a cult leader you admire. So, you lie on the track, right up to the point where it is 10 yards away, and you remain there. For the rest of the story I am telling..
3. At the last minute, the train veers off to the one side. There is a diversion in the track, and it goes along that route. It does not come to where you are lying, and you are safe. You shat yourself, but you had faith in me, and you were safe.
4. All the while, you had the knowledge that there was a diversion. You lay on the track, feared nothing, and were safe. You not only did not shit yourself, you laughed at me. The joke was on me.
To the philosophers who don't understand that astrology is valid, the joke is on them.
StarLove uses the birth charts as well as the progressed charts |