Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Irrational Beliefs
I have been wondering about the truth involving astrology and other similar beliefs. Most people believe them hoping for a better future that will be revealed to them, or how to avoid impending disaster. I have seen many persons frittering away their resources by indulging in these beliefs. Can any one with more experience tell me what is true and what is not?
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23 comments:
Astrology is 100% false. It is not based on any scientific facts. It is the creation of idle minds. You know what idle minds can do!
Astrologers still believe that the Sun revolves around the moon as do planets Mercury and Venus. This is totally wrong. How can a prediction based on such false premises be true!
A few astrologers have claimed that Barack Obama won the election because his sun sign is Leo. Perhaps there is some truth in it.
Carol
Hi, Snoopy and Carol,
I am a Leo, but I don't think I can win any election just now.
It is not in the stars, as Shakespeare or someone like that said. In India, the worst politicians can win in any election!
Snehalata
I was a victim of astrological prediction.I was born on a day of total solar eclipse. My parents died in an accident when I was a child. I had to live with my uncle's family and I was blamed for every bad thing that happened. They even tried to kill me to get rid of my 'bad' influence. I survived due to the ceaseless vigilance my elder sister kept on me.
Now I am a neurosurgeon working in one of the biggest hospitals in the world. I have cured hundreds of patients who had cancerous brain tumours.
There might have been other children who have suffered like me. Astrology must be abolished
Aparna
I agree 100% with Aparna. If someone believes in astrology, he or she must have his or head examined by Aparna, the neurosurgeon who can remove the cancer of superstition. Thousands of girls remain unmarried because they have "mangal dosh". Astrologers are a pain in the neck!
Soumya
It seems that everyone is against astrology. Is there anyone who can say something good about astrology?
Snoopy
I was only joking about Leo to trigger off some discussion on the subject. I don't believe in astrology. My husband Denis says that he knows a man who is a Leo. There is nothing leonine about him. He dives under the sofa when a car tire bursts in the street.
Carol
Astrology is a poor derivative of the grand science of Astronomy. In astrology, planets like Saturn have become gods. We just cannot believe in such superstitions. But if you say that you don't believe in astrology, which has become an integral part of Hinduism, you are termed an 'atheist'. That is why many people hesitate to commit themselves to no-belief in astrology
Archana
Even Shakespeare did not have faith in the stars.
"This is the excellent foppery of the world, that when we are sick in fortune - often the surfeit of our own behaviour, - we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars; as if we were villains by necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion ... an admirable evasion of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish disposition to the charge of a star".
William Shakespeare, King Lear
I have becomae a believer in destiny after a few incidents in my life(you can visit my blog www.govindpr.com for details)
The following are 2 incidents which were reported in the newspaper,one about a year back and the other as recently as last week.
#1.A young man consumes poison in a bid to end his life. He is taken to a hospital in a serious condition. The doctors save his life.Worried that his financial conditions will not permit him to stay in the hospital comes out the hospital and tries to run after a bus which will take him.He is run over by a lorry right in front of the hospital gates.
#2. A young man of 25 was talking on his handphone sitting on the parapet wall of an open terrace of a 5 storeyed building.In his excitement he loses balance and topples over.He lands on a 70 year old man who is just walking by.
The young man escapes with minor injuries and old man dies instantly.
What is the probablity of such a thing happeneing again Can the NASA or ISRO plan a trajectory for their projects with such precision?
I rest my case.
Destiny is a different topic. If someone tries to find out his or her destiny, it is a futile exercise.The astrologer may prescribe some remedies to avoid misfortune. In my personal experience, it is just absurd. It is said thatif someone is destined to suffer he or she will have to suffer. Someone like an astrologer cannot prevent it. But the whole thing is total bullshit. I will write more about 'destiny' in my blog later.
prg has introduced a new subject - destiny. I am only a doctor. I don't believe in destiny. If i do so, I will be failing in my duty. When I treat a patient, I don't think of his destiny. Only our Mastermind Snoopy can tackle the subject. Aparna is also a psychologist and psychotherapist. She is qualified to tell us how belief in destiny can affect our lives. I think such belief leads to negative thinking.
prg has mentioned two incidents. This is not destiny. It is just a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. After rains there are puddles on the road and a live electric wire may be lying it. If one is careless he will be electrocuted. If he is careful he will not be. It does not depend on one's destiny. It is mere chance. Life is a chain of chance events, not predetermined. Fatalism is the curse of Hinduism.
Well, let's conclude this blog on astrology. The score is 6 - 0 against astrology. It is like the result of a football match between Brazil (no)against India (yes),Brazil playing with 5 players against India's 11. Now the judgement.
There is nothing written in the stars! Astrology fails scientific mega test A detailed scientific long-term study by researchers in Britain proves the central principle of astrology invalid and baseless. It puts an end to the fantastic old claim that the constellation of stars and planets at the time of birth could influence or even determine the development of an individual's character and course of life. The "Time Twin Study" was started in London in 1958 as a medical research project. Registering more than 2,000 babies, born within minutes of each other on a day in early March, it had the objective to compare the time twins' health development. The field of investigation was soon extended. The research team monitored the test persons over several decades, recording observations about more than 100 parameters in connection with health, occupation, marital situation, anxiety level, aggressiveness, sociability, IQ levels, abilities in music, art, sport, mathematics, language etc. They tried to collect evidences for similarities between the time twins. However, no similarities could be identified. "The test conditions could hardly have been more conducive to success but the results are uniformly negative", stated Dr. Geoffrey Dean, astrologer turned scientist from Perth, Australia, in a report about the study, published in the current issue of the Journal of Consciousness Studies. Carrying out an analysis of the study, Dr. Dean and his colleague Prof. Ivan Kelley, Psychologist at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, found that there was no special trait or tendency shared by the time twins. They were just as different as people born on any other day under any other planetary constellation. The claim that stars and planets could influence character and life of human beings has long been dismissed by rationalists and scientists, as there is according to all known scientific principles no kind of mechanism imaginable by way of which this influence could possibly work. Here is empirical proof that it does not work at all. The study shows clearly that astrological predictions based on the coordinates of birth do not correspond with reality. They are nothing but exercises in deception. This should be the end of one of the oldest superstitions. But it is not hard to predict that the show will still go on. There are obviously too many people, who like to be deceived and too many, who make enormous money by deceiving them..
Cargo Cults
A few days back when I picked up the newspaper there was a flyer inside it. It showed the picture of a bearded man in saffron robes. I have forgotten his name. There was a description of the wonderful deeds he had done and urged the public to have a 'darshan' and seek his blessings. "you just go in and sit near his feet and think of the problem that has been vexing you. The 'gurudev' will write his answer to your problem on a piece of paper and give to you. You may or may not give a donation to the 'worthy cause'.
I was curious to meet this fellow and to find out how he was going to apply his 'MRI' scan on my innermost thoughts. But being lazy, I missed the opportunity of putting something interesting on my blog.
There are many gurudevs, swamis, babas and ammas going around our country. Some of them are larger figures having international connections and their financial empires are bigger than the budgeted revenue of our country. Most of them are involved in some scam or other, murder, rape, kidnapping, etc. In spite of all this they have millions of followers, who believe that they possess miraculous powers and their blessings will be valuable to solve their problems - financial insecurity, chronic illnesses, marriage prospects of their daughters and successful careers for their sons.
It is a pity that even well-educated people become addicted to one guru or other. Is it not true that nothing miraculous can take place? At least in this universe - there may be other universes - a megaverse- everything must obey the laws of physics and chemistry. What do you say?
Congratulations for work well done. No takers for astrology. What about other such beliefs - palmistry, numerology, tarot cards, tea leaves, Reiki, Vaastu, etc?
The new one about swamis seems to be interesting. But why the heading: "Cargo Cults"?
As a psychologist, I may mention that most people are attracted to things that are mysterious. It is the outcome of experiences from long forgotten generations. In the beginning almost all the natural events had a mysterious origin. Like rainbows, lightning and thunder, eclipses. Our ancestors thought that there were gods doing all these things. This has come down to our present generation.
Snoopy's article is wonderful! I know many people who have an addiction to some godman or other. Perhaps they lack logical thinking.
But as Sneha inquires, why is it Cargo Cult?
PRG mentioned that he had belief in Destiny. I have also read his article on the subject. There is ‘destiny’, but it is on a different scale, not on professional career or ‘foreign travel’. God does not recognize man-made frontiers! The ‘destiny’ I write about is about the genes he inherits. There are many genetic diseases. There is no total cure for them. One of the most terrible diseases is Huntington’s Chorea. This is purely genetic. It is not contagious or infectious. Fortunately it is confined to a few families in the world. The tragedy is that the members of the family know that they are liable to get it. THERE IS NO CURE. If one of the members gets the mutated gene, he or she will get the disease. Depending on the nature of the mutation, the person will go mad at a particular age. The disease may last more than 15 years and death will be a merciful release. No amount of exercise, proper diet, or religious faith can prevent it. By finding the amount of the mutation it is possible to predict at what age the person will go mad. No famous astrologer checking up the accurately cast horoscope can predict it with such pinpoint accuracy. Now, there has been a small breakthrough in treatment that may prevent a more violent attack. Huntington’s is a perfect example of a genetic disease.
If anyone of you wants to know about the human genome and how it acts on our bodies can contact me: tanejaparna@yahoo.com. I will give a summary of “Human Genome”.
Cargo Cults
Sir David Attenborough, the famous explorer and scientist, in his “Quest in Paradise”, describes how most of these cults grew up in the aftermath of the Second World War, when soldiers and missionaries landed on these far-flung islands in the Pacific. The islanders were bowled over by the wondrous possessions of these white people. There were even black people like them, but they also had these nice things. They were seeing for the first time things like radio sets, wrist watches, cigarette lighters from which fire came out just by a flick of the thumb. They had not seen jeeps and speedboats, planes and big ships. They were victims of the Third law of Arthur C. Clarke: ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’. The islanders noticed that the white people who enjoyed these wonders never made them themselves. When articles needed repair, they were thrown away or sent away, and new ones kept arriving as ‘cargo’ in ships or planes. No white man was ever seen to make or repair anything, nor indeed did they do anything that could be recognized as useful work of any kind. Sitting behind a desk shuffling papers was obviously some kind of religious devotion. Evidently, then, the ‘cargo’ must be of supernatural origin. “The white men built tall masts with wires attached to small boxes that glow with light and emit curious noises and strangled voices. It is these incomprehensive actions that are the rituals employed by the white men to persuade the gods to send the cargo”.
Anthropologists, including David Attenborough have noted two separate outbreaks in New Caledonia, four in the Solomons, four in Fiji, seven in the New Hebrides, and over fifty in New Guinea, most of them being quite independent and unconnected with one another. The majority of these religious cults claim that one messiah will bring the cargo when the day of apocalypse arrives. One famous cult on the island of Tanna in the New Hebrides (known as Vanuatu since 1980) is still extant. It was formed by a messianic figure called John Frum, whose apocalyptic vision included a ‘great cataclysm; the mountains would fall flat and the valleys would be filled; old people would regain their youth and sickness would vanish; the white people would be expelled forever and cargo would arrive in great quantity so that everybody would have as much as he wanted’. Suddenly John Frum vanished from the scene, after telling the islanders that he was going back to his ancestors and he would return on the day of apocalypse. That was way back in the 1940s. There is no one alive, who has actually seen John Frum. Some say that he was white, while others say he was black. The cult members still expect that Frum will return, and that the day of his arrival will be 15 February, but the year is unknown. Every year on 15 February his followers assemble for a religious ceremony to welcome him. Hundreds of men clear the bush in the centre of the island so that Frum’s plane might have an airstrip on which to land.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visited the area in 1974 and the Prince subsequently became deified in a rerun of a John Frum-type cult. The cult members were impressed with the imposing figure of Philip wearing his white naval uniform and plumed helmet. It is not surprising that he was elevated over the Queen, quite apart from the fact that the culture of the islanders made it difficult to accept a female deity.
I think that all religious cults making the rounds in our country originate in such circumstances. These have become sub-religions under the larger umbrella of Hinduism. People get terribly impressed with the appearance and the speeches – mostly incomprehensible - made by these ‘demi-gods’. People believe that they have supernatural powers and that their blessings will be precious. Their fame is spread by word of mouth and now there is Internet making things easier for them. Our people do not want ‘cargo’. They want ‘spiritual uplifting’, whatever that means.
'Cargo Cults' is most interesting. The Pacific Islanders were totally isolated from the modern technology and there is justification for their wonderment on modern equipment. But the Indian culture is supposed to be very ancient and full of traditional knowledge. Still they are superstitious to a great extent. It is really sad.
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