RE: Astrological Alchemy: Masterful Eclipse Insights...
If I may cast a partial eclipse of skepticism on what I read and watched...
I've journeyed quite far since i began to look into Epistemology and understanding how do people arrive to believe in the things they believe... and after all the harmful ideas and believes were stripped... i had to also let go of a couple benign ones, like astrology and superstition, as well as karma and law of attraction (thought that one is less benign).
Still i find it fascinating, I used to listen to this sort of talks, read horoscopes, and see a pattern that i wanted to see, in order to validate what i was hearing, but these days what i hear is mystification mixed with some scientific words to make it sound plausible and vague enough to be free of critical scrutiny.
I want to make it clear, I'm not writing this to attack anyone's intelligence, but to rather challenge the ideas that occupy our minds. I trust that my comment will not be taken as an attempt to offend anyone, but rather sharing of my experience and a call to look at the world with more skeptical eyes, and to ask ourselves "is any answer better than saying 'I don't know'?" "are we observing patterns or are we making them ourselves?"
I feel one key point in addressing the conflict of perspectives represented in this comment is to be found in considering the approach taken - namely, that it's something to be believed in...
Do you believe in chemistry? Physics? Psychology? Theology? Art?
It's kind of an illogical question, because none of those are ideas to be believed in - rather, they are subjects, or bodies of knowledge. Knowledge just is - belief in it is kind of irrelevant, and misleading to the mind, for it prevents an exploration of what is through the tricky mindfuck game of having to judge everything as either absolutely true or false - rather than opening to a broader, full-spectrum in which everything has its place, time, and value.
Of course, there are many premises which many people associate with astrology - overlaying their meanings & interpretations ontop, and completely taking themselves out of the game of understanding what it has to offer as a lens and encyclopedia of knowledge, through which - when approached with inquisitiveness and without preconception - one is able to access expanded self-awareness and wisdom regarding the interaction between and evolution of archetypal forces through the extraction of the dimension of time.
The learning ceases as soon as belief - in or against - kicks in.
There's alot of complexity to this dynamic alone, which go way beyond the scope of this comments thread. I've got another piece in the works on "why astrology" that goes into some of it - hopefully it may bring greater clarity to what's been started here...
haha...
And on that note, found while scrolling through Instagram, highly-relevant to the matter:
hah, interesting. I've read something similar once but it was slightly differently worded... appreciate that.
I appreciate that, and I understand your perspective.
By the word 'believe' i don't mean "believe in a concept's existance" but rather "believe in the effectiveness of the said concept"... from a scientific approach.
Meaning if Knowledge is just is, then is there a difference between true knowledge and esoteric - between scientific knowledge and fiction? - both can be deemed as 'knowledge'.
If your question then was: "do you believe in the effectiveness or the truthfulness of chemistry, or art or theology. - to which I will probably give you 3 different answers :) - because they dont stand on the same pillar of credibility.
Then again I agree that there can be a subjective benefit to certain esoteric ways of thought or ways to interpret the world - so to some extend we can derive "effectiveness" from almost any concept that we commit ourselves too.
I would definitely like to read your expansion on astrology... I respect your mind and writing - one of my favorites actually.
here it is:
Esoteric Exploration: Why Astrology...?
@rok-sivante, you rock! i already saw it, and it kinda inspired me to draw something surreal. Thank you!
Sweet.
If you end up publishing on Steemit when complete, please share... 😇
Semantics are very important to this conversation... to me 'esoteric' is understood as: Studied by few, mystic, abstract, not scientifically verified, and often arcane knowledge - that also deems itself to be "higher knowledge" or a key to crack a hidden meaning or a way to connect to some sort of power/entity.
However, as special as that sounds, actual experiments with mystics/seers and people that practice this knowledge showed to be very inconsistent (which means that no practical models have been constructed), and they often use psychological techniques to persuade others of their knowledge.
Even though I'm skeptical of the practical use of esoteric knowledge, I'm no stranger to it's subjective effects, aesthetic value and historical richness - just like art.