I tend to believe that the stars and planets have as much influence on my life as the entrails of goats. Of course it's fun to imagine that our horoscopic sign, the year we were born, or our Myers-Briggs type can tell us something new and interesting about ourselves.
It's equally fun to do a Tarot reading for a friend. Based on my knowledge of symbolism, I can suggest a path for my friend to follow, a path that one could say arises from the chosen cards. In fact, my own desires for the other person's future and my intuition about their current life propel the interpretation as much as the pictures in the cards. Both the Hanged Man and the Devil speak with one mouth: mine.In truth, I abandoned mysticism long ago. My paranormal experiences continue to wait for a scientific explanation. I can also live with the absence of explanation. I don't need to understand everything. Given the human brain's current capacity, there will always be mysteries. Maybe the Global Brain can eventually solve them.
Even though I do not believe in horoscopes at all, my newspaper's horoscope column seemed to know that I was fond of questions. Here's what it had to say about my birthday last August:
"If today is your birthday, the answers you get depend on the questions you choose to ask, so ask only those that are positive and uplifting over the coming year. How can you change your life for the better? How can you change the world for the better? The answers will come."The answers usually depend on the questions, birthday or not. "How can I change my life for the better?" will lead your thoughts into a more productive place than "Why am I such a loser?" The book Change Your Questions, Change Your Life, by Merilee Adams discusses how to use questions to improve our lives. I don't know whether my birthday horoscope came from the stars or from the self-help shelf of a bookstore - maybe both.
Do you believe in invisible or supernatural forces? Do you need to explain the unexplainable?
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ReplyDeleteJohn Kennedy: When your brother Len was writing movie scripts for Hollywood (see "What is the best advice ever?" below) he probably knew that his life wasn't a movie. Similarly, I am a scientist but I know that my life is not a science experiment. Although I am amazed at the power of science, I understand that science just one part of the human experience; human experience is not just one part of science. The stories I got from a religious upbringing are far less bizarre than what modern cosmologists propose: read anything by Brian Greene. I should choose to believe that which helps me act according to the values that I cherish. So I admit that I live with the angels and arch angels of my youth and I have fun and make money with science. We all swim in a sea of faith, whether that's faith in God, science, money, ambition, creativity, or each other.
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