How astrology fits into the puzzle

[Steve Rodgman]

I'm curious what everyone's thoughts are on astrology and its relationship with the universe. Here is my hypothesis:

Based on the time you incarnate on Earth your ego takes on a natural set of characteristic degrees (your self or spirit never stops being perfect though). Then on your journey you unconsciously exert your characteristic balance until you become aware that it exists. At this point you learn you have free will and can eliminate your ego's tendencies (eliminate/kill the ego eventually) if you so choose to.

So I guess the whole point I'm getting at is that I believe astrology and your birth chart are almost your ego's playbook (i.e. if you are charactised with a high degree of impatience your ego will feed you with feelings of impatience). But you can work to nullify the validity of your birth chart as you remember your perfection and effectively kill the ego.

What do you think?

[Michael Chui]

I think that there's something inherently wrong about "As above, so below." For instance, Cicero's question: if many soldiers to into a battlefield and a lot of them die, were they all born under the same unlucky star? My question is: if you were born on another planet, would astrology work? What if it was a different solar system, a different galaxy?

Your take on it is one I like. On one hand, astrology is too accurate to be easily dismissed, but it's also too unwieldy to really listen to. If anyone has some strong resources for astrology, I'd be interested in learning more about the science and practice of it.

[Athena]

I agree that a part of your personality is shaped by the arrangements of the planets at birth, but I also believe that that part of your personality is intrinsic to you while you're here on earth, and is something you shouldn't try to shed. Rather than try to fight it, we should understand our astrological tendencies, and channel them in a positive direction.

Our birth charts and astrological signs give us unique directions, almost like dictation to cells in a body. We need that kind of separation of personality and pursuit, so that humanity as a whole body can function properly. Aries, for instance, is like the heart of the body, active and sometimes impatient, but our activity and forward movement is essential for the function of the whole. So our astrological personalities are important for each of us and for balancing humanity as a whole.



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Also, what definition of 'ego' are you using? I don't agree that ego is in itself a bad thing, as some new-age teachers try to say. When they refer to ego, they're often talking about a set of undesirable characteristics, like selfishness, division, vanity, etc., that reside in the ego, but are not the ego itself. EGO in its true form is more just a neutral part of the mind, like an organ, not something that you should try to kill, but fill with proper values and target it properly.

The ego is like a part of the mind that we need while we're on earth--
For instance, one characteristic of the raw ego is to say, 'I'm separate from you', which IS true on a material level, even though it may not be true on a spiritual level. While we're on earth, again, we're like cells in a body, and we need borders like that between one another, even though on a spiritual level we may be all the same.
That may be one reason why when meditating, connecting to spirit realm, etc, it helps when you bypass the ego, because you're going into another dimension.
But while we're on earth, we need uniqueness and separation, from ego and from astrology too!

[Steve Rodgman]

Thanks for the replies.

When I say ego I speak of the force that keeps us blind to reality. Ego is an illusion that was created over time to give us the sense of separation, hate, scarcity, pain, etc. This is so (A) we would know what pleasure felt like (the opposite of pain); and (B) so the universe could experience its perfection (without an environment of relativity you cannot compare yourself and thus be or feel what it is to be something). The illusion of ego is necessary so that we see the beauty in reality. Ego is just a tool, a belief system.

Most of us believe the we are our ego. We identify with mind, body, ego, etc. You, however, are not your ego -- you are yourself, your spirit. When you kill the ego and channel directly to your higher self 24/7 you are free to bask in pure joy, abundance, love and wealth all the time. Ego tells us that life is hard; life, however, is actually tremendously easy. Once you kill ego, you remove all the nets and you are free to create your reality, instead of reacting to it.

When you kill your ego it doesn't mean that you become this new-age 'free spirit' hippy person. It means you're able to experience life without all the unnecessary fear-based thoughts that hold us down. Aiming to stay alive, however, the ego will continue to provide you with evidence that it is necessary (by filling you with thoughts of the past and the future) and other information to keep you from experiencing the beauties of life. Once you kill the ego you realize that joy is eternal, the universe is perfect, and that every circumstance and person that comes into your life in a gift and is to be grateful for.

[Keith]

One interesting observation (I thought it was by Paul Graham, but I can't find the essay now) is that, we tend to assume when there's a correlation between things that it's a cause-effect relationship between the two. But (aside from pure chance) there's another possibility ; the two things could share a common cause. eg. If I take two bowling balls and simultaneously drop them from a building they will fall at exactly the same rate. To the casual observer it appears as though the bowling balls are linked in some way, but of course they aren't.

This is the only way I can see astology working - the cycles of the stars and planets are set in motion by the same natural forces that control biological cycles so there are commonalities in the rhythms.

Just a thought...

[Michael Chui]

Originally Posted by Keith

we tend to assume when there's a correlation between things that it's a cause-effect relationship between the two

Replying to this a bit late, but it's a well-known fallacy called "Correlation is not Causation". On the other hand, this is the essential basis for the validity of the experiment: causation can be suggested by correlation. Of course, the experiment is tightly controlled, whereas as astrological predictions cannot be so controlled.

[zpivat]

To me, I believe in astrology only in terms of how it describes people's characters based on their star sign. For instance, I am a Libra, and a lot of Libra descriptions exactly match my characteristics and personality. I also notice this happening to other people.

As for astrological predictions, such as "this week you'll meet a cute girl on your way home from work", I don't believe at all :P :P