A Personal View Of The Harm In Astrology, Part 1

Hi there! This is going to be a two-parter. It started off with my pondering why my father is not a skeptic. He, like James Randi, is a magician. He applies critical thinking to many aspects of his life. But-- and this is a big BUT-- he has invested so much time, energy, and identity into his belief in astrology that I doubt he will ever be able to see it for what it is-- life-destroyingly harmful.

But first, I'm going to have to take this train of thought through a digression. First of all, I am bipolar, diagnosed late in life, but for the past few years very well-controlled by medication (YAY, MEDICATION! :) :) :) YAY, SCIENCE!!!). I suspect that my father, and indeed much of his side of the family, shares this condition. He is the last surviving member of his branch of that tree, but everything I know of the family and the way they interacted with one another points to it.

An acquaintance from the Bad Science forum asked me if I thought bipolar disorder can lead to magical thinking. I thought about this, and I said I think there's definitely something to that-- especially when the condition goes undiagnosed for a long, long time. My highs were in and of themselves mystical experiences! I felt ecstatic, like a Sufi dervish, feeling an almost-sexual union with the Divine! All things felt holy, all things were a part of me... (I still feel that way, only now I'm ecstatic that all things are made of star-stuff, and if that ain't holy enough for ya, well, I don't know what is!!!) And, well, anyone who has ever been depressed knows there is no worse hell.

If you were to graph the moods of a bipolar person, you'd get something that looks like a sine wave, with deep lows following the extreme highs. This is where the "roller-coaster moods" analogy comes from-- it is very much like being on a wild ride from which there is no getting off. I can well attest that before one is diagnosed with a mood disorder, the natural thing to think is, "What is wrong with me that I can't control myself better?" or some variation on the blame-myself theme. It is no great leap from there to conclude, "Something besides my conscious mind is controlling my life," which can lead to further speculations of "WHAT is that thing out there controlling my life?" Is it God? The devil? The ghosts of one's ancestors? Therein one's thinking can easily fall into grooves determined by cultural expectations with which one was raised. Also, this sine-wave mood pattern leads some, I've noticed, to that near-aphoristic thought of, "I feel too happy, something bad must be about to happen." Again, magical thinking!

It's what we do as humans-- we attempt to find explanations for the unexplainable. Unfortunately our explanations are often the most convenient rather than the most rational. I'm really glad the latest neurological research is getting such widespread press-- such press increases its accessibility to everyone and thus makes its convenience as an explanation grow.

I think it’s obvious from what I’m writing that I believe “holiness” is a perception derived from a particular confluence of thought and mood. I think once one has encountered that mental state it becomes easier and easier to get there, rather like an athlete getting “in the zone.” Practice makes perfect-- or, practice sure reinforces specific neural pathways that make the practiced task easier. This is why people who meditate a lot find it easier over time to hit those flashes of revelatory insight. Why people who pray a lot find it easier to feel the presence of God in their lives. Why people who claim to feel ghostly presences find their alleged abilities to see and feel said entities improves the more they practice. It’s all about conditioning the brain to perform a certain task.

Unfortunately, with a bipolar person, those mood swings are “practice,” too. You really learn how to sabotage your successes, if you’re not careful. My dad is an expert at sabotaging his successes.

When someone talks of “positive thinking” or “reinforcing negative thought patterns,” one can quickly turn up lots of altie woo-woo with that kind of language. But there’s also a lot of science to suggest that a bipolar person, undiagnosed for a long time, suffers from damage to certain areas of the brain because of lack of adequate serotonin. This makes it easy to think negatively instead of positively.

My father has been heavily into astrology since he was in his early twenties. Early in life, he discovered in his own horoscope THREE of the "Five Fated Patterns." Now, astrology is filled with the language of fudging, so that anyone can interpret it according to their own experience-- but this is the ONE area wherein astrologers can commit! They say that anyone whose natal chart contains one of the "Fated Patterns" of planetary positioning is allegedly destined for an incredibly challenging life. So my father grew up convinced that no good would come of his life and that he was destined to end tragically, even violently. He had lots of practice reinforcing this belief. In fact, I would lay odds that this contributed SIGNIFICANTLY to his never seeking psychiatric or medical help for his myriad problems.

He came from a psychologically, verbally, and physically abusive family. Seek counseling? Nope-- Fated Patterns.

He had unchecked Type II diabetes for at least ten years before diagnosis. His blood sugar fluctuations led to insane mood swings above and beyond his USUAL extreme mood swings, which he took out on his family through verbal, psychological and physical abuse. Seek a doctor’s advice? Nope-- Fated Patterns.

He was a sex addict, meaning he sought sexual adventures to the detriment of all other aspects of his life, including getting fired from many jobs because of ill-considered liaisons (screwing his undergrads and the daughter-of-the-Dean ill-considered), one of which happened right as my younger brother got diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease and we really needed health insurance! Seek any kind of help to get himself under control??? Nope-- Fated. Fucking. Patterns.

No harm in astrology? Bullshit.


Next up-- a look at how astrology helps predators find victims, cult-style.