Would you believe it?
Only last week my stars told me soon I would be involved in a debate of
some kind in the near future. It didn't specify what form the debate
would take and I assumed that it would be with the milkman who always
seems to add the price of a pot of cream to my weekly bill for no
apparent reason. He swears blind that he leaves a pot for me every
Wednesday but I'm yet to see it (Mind you, next doors cat is giving me
a lot of smug grins recently. He really looks like the cat that got
the...)
Obviously my stars weren't referring to my debate with the
milkman. This must have been what they meant.
My mistake.
As you, the reader, may of may not have already guessed, I'm a strong
believer in disbelieving when it comes to Astrology. Which isn't to say
I don't read my stars whenever I get near enough to a paper, oh no.
Let's not go too far here. I read them just as keenly as the next
man... (Ooops. Please pardon my blatant and wanton use of the very
Un-politically correct word, "man", there. I, of course, meant to say
"Unisexual personage").
When I read my stars I manage to avoid stepping into a hermeneutic
circle. I like to think that I step into a hermeneutic semi-circle.
This means that I believe the good stuff which says that I'm going to
win lots of money and get lucky with the girl of my dreams, and that I
don't believe the stuff that says I'm going to get a delicate piece of
my anatomy caught in a mangle (surely it couldn't happen AGAIN...)
I promised myself at the outset of this thingy on Astrology that I
would at no point be obvious and say the words "Mumbo-Jumbo" but I
really can't help myself. Mumbo-Jumbo. There. I've said it. It is now
out of my system. Mumbo-Jumbo. Stop it. Mumbo. Stoppit. Jumbo.
Enough!
Although have absolutely zero faith in Astrology definitely
do believe in self-fulfilling prophecy.
People that go through the week expecting "...a lucky windfall..." or
"...a chance encounter with a long lost friend..." are much more likely
to walk around with their peepers wide open in the belief that their
old friend is going to be just around the next corner and also buy a
few more lottery tickets just to give their luck a helping hand...
These people are therefore much more likely to find their long lost
tenner and/or win an old friend in the lottery (if you catch my drift).
If neither eventuality occurs then they forget what it was that their
stars predicted. If one or the other does occur then they say, "Coo,
Russell Grant said that this would happen" and hey presto, we have an
even stronger belief in Astrology. Confirmatory bias and all that.
We all know that Astrology and other stuff (eloquently put, that
unisexual personage) will always exist while there are people in the
world willing to believe it and others willing to a) Take advantage of
them or b) Use their GIFT for the benefit of all (Delete according to
your degree of cynicism) but I don't mind if you don't.
"After all..." cue cheesey music and the uneasy feeling that a horrible
cliched statement about the human condition is approaching. This
statement is the kind that comes at the end of a film (probably a
Western) where all the actors (probably on horseback) slowly turn to
stare at a some unknown point on the distant, barren, horizon with a
look of hope (and mayhap a tear) in their eyes because they have, in
their joint struggle to overcome outrageous odds (and baddies with
outrageous Mexican accents), learned that.......
"After all... We ALL need something to believe in."
(Excuse me while I throw up)
Thanks for listening.
Sean
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Feb 13 2001 - 16:23:15 GMT