Skeptics often dismiss astrology as a “psuedo-science.”
This is a common question I hear from skeptics:
Isn’t astrology just a story that people made up about what planetary movements mean?
My answer may surprise you:
Yes. Of course it’s a story.
Astrology is a story about what planets represent, what the Zodiac signs represent, and what the movement of planets through the signs represent.
That doesn’t make it irrelevant or “fake.”
Since the dawn of existence, humans have been making up stories about what things mean as a way to find some coherence in the Universe. We make up stories about what things mean in order to give ourselves the illusion of control in a Universe that can often feel random.
Everything is a Story
Astrology is a story in the same way that the stock market is a story.
Companies issue reports on their earnings. Based on these reports, investors decided whether a stock is worth buying. If more people buy the stock, more people want to buy the stock, and the stock’s value goes up.
The stock price on any given day doesn’t necessarily indicate a company’s actual long-term value. It often isn’t even related to a company’s profitability. What drives the stock market is expectations and emotion.
Sometimes investors buy a stock because the company beat expectations in how much it earned in a quarter. Sometimes they sell a stock because the company failed to meet expectations.
The expectations themselves are just a story. Who set those expectations? Usually analysts, based on a story the company told or a story other people made up.
Sometimes investors buy or sell stock based on a news update from a company. Or they might buy or sell stock because other people are buying or selling that stock.
All of these decisions are based on stories and beliefs about what things mean.
You can choose which stories you want to believe, and which stories provide useful information to help you make sense of your life and it’s direction.
A Story Rooted in Observed Patterns of Unchanging Cycles Over Time
Astrology may be a story, but it’s a story that’s rooted in a long history of observed patterns of cycles that repeat over the long arc of time.
Unlike the companies whose stock is traded in the stock market, the planets have been around and unchanging since the dawn of the universe.
Patterns from the past can’t necessarily predict the future, but they can give us a good indication of what to look out for.
Astrology also gives us a lens through which to look at the world, helping to create order out of chaos and focus our attention to certain areas of life in their seasons.
A Mental Model
In this way, it’s like any other mental model: it’s a framework that helps us sort through the random scattered events and information we take in and bring it into coherence.
If the story of astrology doesn’t work for you, you’re free to leave it. Choose the framework or story that creates meaning and coherence for you.
[…] Yes. Of course it is a story. […]