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So, Then, Why Horoscopes?
Oct. 18th, 2008 10:00 amI was asked in an earlier post to explain why I post horoscopes whilst, at the same time, going around denying the existence of God and pushing rationality.
I'd like to point out something to my f'list that some people might not like, and then add something that might piss off some of the rest. A few won't get pissed off because they'll understand my meaning - this is for them.
(i) The universe operates according to a whole bunch of natural processes. What goes up comes down only because gravity exerts a force upon it; 2 + 2 = 4; and pi is a transcendental number measuring the ratio between a circle's diameter and its circumference. Now, those natural processes can be observed, and their mechanisms roughly deduced through the process we know as the scientific method. Through this method, which is a skill which can be acquired and learned like walking and talking, any human being can discern the nature of the universe. It doesn't take a genius mind to learn science: without the white lab coats and sterile equipment, scientific method is just simply that plain old common sense and nous that most smart yet ordinary people take for granted.
And, as if in stark contrast to the above,
(ii) The Universe ... makes no sense whatsoever. It isn't doing anything. It isn't going anywhere. It, in fact, doesn't have any rational purpose. Not only that: the Universe is not a rational place either. Things exist here which contradict what people know. Hot gas giant planets race madly in tight orbits around stars; planets have huge ring systems, fine as dust, which don't look to be going away, and perfect hexagonal storms raging at their poles. Planets rotate counter to their orbital direction, or on their side. Stars which ought to be black holes due to their mass, aren't. Creatures we think of as dumb are known to use tools, to communicate, to think, to plan, to dream, and to mourn the dead. Hell, they even know when they're looking at their reflections in the mirror.
And so, we come to faith.
Inasmuch as many people need a faith to cling to, that gives them hope that they won't cease to be when death comes upon their mortal bodies and that an afterlife exists for them, that same faith gives people a sense of, well, sense. The Universe is here for a reason. We are here for a reason. In this faith, we don't know what that reason is - and when the stirrings of Faith began more than 2000 years ago, we didn't even have a clue how we came about - but we can posit that the reason does exist, and that reason is known only to God.
Somehow, this absolution from having to worry about the universe making no sense offers people a grounding of stability, of what people call "sanity," to cling to. We are sane only because we know that worrying about things like this are somebody else's problem. By this means, we brush the fundamental irrationality of this stable, predictable universe under the carpet - and all we then see is the comforting ticking clockwork. For some, Science works, bitches. For others, maybe a little fearful of the fact that it's skirting the forbidden truth, only Religion works. The religious sink deeper into their fluffy clouds. The scientists work out in the cold. Everybody else is somewhere in between, and they only have their TV, job, sex, beer, money and status to keep them happy.
But step outside of these cotton-stuffed cosy little boxes, for just one moment, and look around you at the stark, cold, weird universe. Everything works. If you climb up to the roof and drop an apple, it isn't going to fly off straight up and hit the ISS. It's going to bounce off the floor, or even some poor passer-by's noggin.
You go anywhere else on Earth and climb up to a high place, and drop the apple - and like the fabled apple that supposedly inspired Newton, it'll head down. Straight down to the earth. Every time.
Like I said. Known; measurable; predictable. You can even swap your Granny Smith for a Golden Delicious, or even a banana or a pocket calculator, and get the same result.
(Oh, and if you throw yourself off that roof ... no angels will come along and break your fall either. So don't try this at home or anywhere else for that matter).
But you have got to ask yourself, despite the fact that everything happens, everything works ... does it work for a reason?
Honestly? You really can answer "no."
As much as science can explain how things work, how things came to pass and how things will end, the scientists themselves are just as perplexed and baffled by the lack of purpose of the Cosmos as the theists. Whether you believe in God or in Science, deep down when you ask the question "Why?" you're both equally as flabbergasted when no voice comes back to you with a "Because" or "Why not?" - (i) because there is no voice; (ii) because, even if there was a voice, it wouldn't be able to answer your question.
But if you step outside the box: if you concede that the universe doesn't need for there to be a God, or a Higgs particle, to make it come into existence (and in fact, we could have come into being through a process called spontaneously broken symmetry, meaning our very existence and these very thoughts' existence is as arbitrary as the thought of a God): if you concede, furthermore, that we alone are responsible for making any kind of sense out of our lives; don't be surprised if you start to feel a little weird inside.
Don't worry. You won't be going crazy.
You'll just be becoming as sane as I am.
I'd like to point out something to my f'list that some people might not like, and then add something that might piss off some of the rest. A few won't get pissed off because they'll understand my meaning - this is for them.
(i) The universe operates according to a whole bunch of natural processes. What goes up comes down only because gravity exerts a force upon it; 2 + 2 = 4; and pi is a transcendental number measuring the ratio between a circle's diameter and its circumference. Now, those natural processes can be observed, and their mechanisms roughly deduced through the process we know as the scientific method. Through this method, which is a skill which can be acquired and learned like walking and talking, any human being can discern the nature of the universe. It doesn't take a genius mind to learn science: without the white lab coats and sterile equipment, scientific method is just simply that plain old common sense and nous that most smart yet ordinary people take for granted.
And, as if in stark contrast to the above,
(ii) The Universe ... makes no sense whatsoever. It isn't doing anything. It isn't going anywhere. It, in fact, doesn't have any rational purpose. Not only that: the Universe is not a rational place either. Things exist here which contradict what people know. Hot gas giant planets race madly in tight orbits around stars; planets have huge ring systems, fine as dust, which don't look to be going away, and perfect hexagonal storms raging at their poles. Planets rotate counter to their orbital direction, or on their side. Stars which ought to be black holes due to their mass, aren't. Creatures we think of as dumb are known to use tools, to communicate, to think, to plan, to dream, and to mourn the dead. Hell, they even know when they're looking at their reflections in the mirror.
And so, we come to faith.
Inasmuch as many people need a faith to cling to, that gives them hope that they won't cease to be when death comes upon their mortal bodies and that an afterlife exists for them, that same faith gives people a sense of, well, sense. The Universe is here for a reason. We are here for a reason. In this faith, we don't know what that reason is - and when the stirrings of Faith began more than 2000 years ago, we didn't even have a clue how we came about - but we can posit that the reason does exist, and that reason is known only to God.
Somehow, this absolution from having to worry about the universe making no sense offers people a grounding of stability, of what people call "sanity," to cling to. We are sane only because we know that worrying about things like this are somebody else's problem. By this means, we brush the fundamental irrationality of this stable, predictable universe under the carpet - and all we then see is the comforting ticking clockwork. For some, Science works, bitches. For others, maybe a little fearful of the fact that it's skirting the forbidden truth, only Religion works. The religious sink deeper into their fluffy clouds. The scientists work out in the cold. Everybody else is somewhere in between, and they only have their TV, job, sex, beer, money and status to keep them happy.
But step outside of these cotton-stuffed cosy little boxes, for just one moment, and look around you at the stark, cold, weird universe. Everything works. If you climb up to the roof and drop an apple, it isn't going to fly off straight up and hit the ISS. It's going to bounce off the floor, or even some poor passer-by's noggin.
You go anywhere else on Earth and climb up to a high place, and drop the apple - and like the fabled apple that supposedly inspired Newton, it'll head down. Straight down to the earth. Every time.
Like I said. Known; measurable; predictable. You can even swap your Granny Smith for a Golden Delicious, or even a banana or a pocket calculator, and get the same result.
(Oh, and if you throw yourself off that roof ... no angels will come along and break your fall either. So don't try this at home or anywhere else for that matter).
But you have got to ask yourself, despite the fact that everything happens, everything works ... does it work for a reason?
Honestly? You really can answer "no."
As much as science can explain how things work, how things came to pass and how things will end, the scientists themselves are just as perplexed and baffled by the lack of purpose of the Cosmos as the theists. Whether you believe in God or in Science, deep down when you ask the question "Why?" you're both equally as flabbergasted when no voice comes back to you with a "Because" or "Why not?" - (i) because there is no voice; (ii) because, even if there was a voice, it wouldn't be able to answer your question.
But if you step outside the box: if you concede that the universe doesn't need for there to be a God, or a Higgs particle, to make it come into existence (and in fact, we could have come into being through a process called spontaneously broken symmetry, meaning our very existence and these very thoughts' existence is as arbitrary as the thought of a God): if you concede, furthermore, that we alone are responsible for making any kind of sense out of our lives; don't be surprised if you start to feel a little weird inside.
Don't worry. You won't be going crazy.
You'll just be becoming as sane as I am.
