Why You Should Know Astrology Even When You Think It’s Bullshit
I never looked up to the skies for advice or thought that planetary alignment on my birthday – July 5, 1989 – helps explain why I struggle with anxiety and love to wrestle and play the drums. I don’t think these things are predetermined by the cosmos, but you may be led to believe otherwise if you are really into astrology.
I do not consider astrology a hobby – in many ways it is no more illusory than organized religion – but as far as science is concerned, it is quite simple: there is no evidence that the movements of the heavenly bodies can affect the set of traits. which form the basis of personality. However, it is actually good to understand what many love, if only you can better understand the many people who believe in these things.
What is astrology?
Astrology is the field of divination that attempts to understand our life by connecting us to the cosmos, suggesting that the arrangement of celestial bodies – mainly planets and stars – has etheric power over our feelings and personalities on Earth. Perhaps the most important aspect of astrology is birthday and place of his birth in the zodiac calendar , giving you the astrological sign (for example, my cancer), which becomes a kind of spiritual hallmark; Sagittarius is known in a certain way, as is Pisces, and so on.
If you want to delve deeper into your cosmological DNA, you can get your own astrological chart or horoscope, which technically everyone has. There are many resources that will show you for free. You can learnto read and decipher this diagram yourself, or you can seek advice from certain experts (there is a whole subreddit for this).
This map is essentially a roadmap for your soul, which is funny because, scientifically, astrology is just idle talk. West Texas A&M professor Christopher S. Byrd explains why this is:
Astrology claims that astronomical bodies affect people’s lives, in addition to basic weather conditions, depending on their date of birth. This statement is scientifically incorrect. Numerous scientific studies have disproved that astronomical bodies affect people’s lives based on their date of birth. For example, Peter Hartmann and his collaborators studied over 4,000 people and found no correlation between date of birth and personality or intelligence .
Why is it important to understand astrology?
Belief systems are the foundation of human civilization, and even if something is technically wrong – be it the foundation of a religion, ideology, subcultural trend, conspiracy, or whatever – they can still have a big impact on people. life and a larger society if enough people want it to become existence or significance. It’s worth at least understanding where certain belief systems come from and why people cling to them, because at least it helps to understand the world.
This is the essence of Thomas’ theorem , formulated by sociologists William Isaac Thomas and Dorothy Swain Thomas in the 1920s. “Facts”, regardless of their actual truthfulness, come to life when enough supporters believe they are true. As a painful example, remember the storming of the Capitol on January 6 by rebels firmly convinced that the US elections were rigged? Belief in the Big Lies is just one example of the actual embodiment of the work of W. I. Thomas, enacted almost 100 years after this concept was revealed.
Or, perhaps the most succinct formulation of Thomas’ theorem, both Thomas famously wrote in 1928: “If people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.”
Although astrology is a much milder example, it still helps to understand it, if only to clarify why people can cling to it with conviction. It can help people find a sense of comfort amid the uncertainty and ever-changing winds of life, and while it should never be used as a substitute for real science, it can be a meeting point for people seeking clarity. In my opinion, this is not necessarily a bad thing.