Skeptic's Crystal Gazing

16th century poet Sir Philip Sidney in his Defense of Poetry said that in order to search for true knowledge, to purify wit, to enrich memory and enable effective judgment men took various courses. Some believed that this knowledge could be obtained by studying the general fundamental problems and became natural and supernatural philosophers. The delight of music drew some and the certainty of mathematics others. Some thought this knowledge could be obtained by the high and heavenly knowledge of stars. But, by the balance of experience it was found that the astronomer and the astrologer, looking at the stars, might fall into a ditch; that the inquiring philosopher might be blind himself and the mathematician may draw a straight line with a crooked heart. Hence he proved that all these are serving sciences that serve as a mistress to poetry.

The point of this reference is not to show that poetry wins over everything, but that faith can be instilled by assertion. Astrology lies on that thin line where since science doesn’t have evidence to show how it works physically and it can easily be perceived as blind faith. The closest science has come to explaining works behind astrology is with the help of the sub-atomic particle known as the neutrino, which was proved to exist in the year 1930 on purely theoretical grounds. Later in 1987 its existence was proven to show that neutrinos passed on some changes in our DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). According to the superstring theory despite the fact that neutrinos are astonishingly small, their vibrations create all of the energy that makes the universe, without us even realizing it.  

There are billions of neutrinos travelling through space at the speed of light, they pass through everything. So imagine them racing in and out of you all the time, with the force of a waterfall, except they’re attacking wildly from every direction. According to Human Design, vibrating superstrings contain these neutrinos and the properties are shaped by the stars that have created them. On the passing of neutrinos from the body of the object, the properties are modified. Thus large objects like planets have a great impact on the neutrinos that pass through them. Now think how the neutrinos that are passing through us have already passed through the moon or one of the planets and aping its properties. At the time of our birth we’re extra sensitive to their influence, hence we’re assigned our stars according to their proximity to the earth.

The Sun and the moon constitute a very important part of astrology because the sun is the largest body we know and the biggest producer of neutrinos and the moon is the closest to our earth. This way the earth becomes the most important body affecting us, which makes sense even without the scientific jargon attached to it.      

The question then comes of belief, the very lack of which could be considered a fallacy in the world of science. Most arguments against astrology insist that refusing to understand it is just plain common sense.  This is the fallacy of opinion without knowledge. With the passage of time, all the things that were initially considered became science after discovering the mechanism. Even the metaphysical concepts needed to explain the ideas that escaped the human range of understanding till metaphysics slowly changed to physics.

So to deviate a little from what Sir Philip Sidney had to say in his defense of poetry, beautiful words written on fresh parchment may not be very different from science. He has been known as one of the greatest metaphysical poets of all time after all!

"I was thinking about how I feel about you. And I came to the conclusion that you're a part of me, except that doesn't make sense when it's written like that. So imagine two people making a horcrux of themselves, and the object on which it is created is the other person.

Do you see what I mean?" 

Mumbling #23

As I sit down to write these few words, my headphones introduce a familiar song to me: a song with which I associate a distinct memory from my past, a song, which I hope, will help me write what I wish to. I was gifted my first iPod when I was in tenth grade. Before that I used my mother’s old phone which was pretty useless otherwise, except for its radio. I would carry that phone around with me everywhere. Sweet song playlists were peppered with lovers who spoke of their heartaches at three o’ clock in the morning; lovers who had turned insomniacs.  

On some days when my head is too full of thoughts, a memory puts out its hand and a song fits in perfectly like a glove. Maybe it changes something of the memory- alters its accuracy, makes it more savory. I'd like to remember the way I want to. It's mine, after all. 

Complicated.

I hate that word. Mostly because people often use it as a pitiable excuse to shove things under a carpet. Sent my way, it sounds like someone just hurled a giant ball of knotted wool at me when all I had asked was for something to keep me warm. As I sit to loosen the knots one by one, I begin to question everything. Maybe I wan't even so cold in the first place. Maybe I should freeze to death instead of dealing with your nonsense.