The secret of astrology

There are two addictive constellations among the six people in the university dormitory. Constellation is one of the topics of sleeping in the party every night, and it has become an important figure in popularizing the basic knowledge of constellations, astrolabes and astrology, and has been dubbed "Erbanxian Man". Out of the school gate, there are many such "half immortals" around me. Some of them seem noble. They look at the astrolabe, talk about the past, judge the future and are keen on research. It is also well-founded.

Attitude towards astrology, some people say it is superstition, others say it is science. No matter what the argument is, it will still affect many people's daily lives in the 2 1 century, so it is of course necessary to understand it.

The author of Astrology in World History is China's first doctor of astronomy, distinguished professor of Shanghai Jiaotong University, doctoral supervisor, and Jiang, president of the Institute of Science History and Science Culture. The book I read was reprinted on 20 14, and the first edition was published on 1995. The author is worth introducing, because his professional background in astronomy seems to conflict with the inherent impression of astrology. In my mind, astrology is always associated with mysticism, so for a person with a natural science background, writing such a book makes me feel particularly interesting.

There are many contents in this book that answer my curiosity: astrology is closely related to astronomy, famous astronomers in modern science are often obsessed with astrology, and they are even powerful astrologers themselves (Kepler is the most famous), and the development of astronomy cannot be separated from astrology.

Western astrology originated in Mesopotamia in 3000 BC, and then spread to Europe and Arabia through Babylon, Egypt and Greece. The earliest astrological records are inseparable from the nature of witchcraft, and the future is predicted by the astronomical phenomena in the ceremony. This kind of ceremony is usually related to important things, such as agriculture and war of tribes, polis and countries. Thus, the first branch of astrology was born-military astrology. As important as the future of the country is the king's every move, so another branch of astrology-birth astrology was born, which predicted the fortune of a person's life and depicted the five planets in the birth, the moon and the zodiac.

Origin is said because it tells the most important purpose of astrology: to predict the future, including countries and individuals. But if you think this is fortune telling and superstition, it is absolutely. The author says astrology is a precise science under the premise of superstition. Description in place. Astrology scientists observe the sun, moon, gold, wood, water, fire and earth, draw the zodiac, and accurately observe and calculate the positions of the planets. Can't say unscientific. Astrology has left a large number of astronomical observation records for future generations, which has nurtured the growth of astronomy.

Aside from the precise observation and calculation of astrology, what we are most concerned about is whether it can make accurate predictions. After all, many modern people often look at horoscopes and personality analysis, which bear an important topic in social life. Historical materials record the historical events that predicted success, and those that were not predicted correctly, of course, we also know that they will not be recorded. In addition, there are some hindsight, and the results correspond to the previous N+ predictions of astrologers, because the language of astrologers is mostly ambiguous. These historical materials of astrology are not enough to prove the accuracy of astrology prediction, but why are great monarchs, famous figures, upper-class aristocrats, intellectuals and people at the bottom of society all eager for astrology?

From the perspective of astrology itself, it is divided into two factions. One school thinks that people's destiny is predetermined, while the other thinks that only part of people's destiny is decided, and the other part is chosen and controlled by themselves. The subjective initiative of most people tends to the latter school, which actually leaves a lot of room for astrologers to explain the prediction results. They interpret from different angles and defend themselves.

In addition, it can be found that the famous astrologers who accompanied the king from ancient times to the present, and those who succeeded in commercialization after the Middle Ages, are mostly powerful psychologists. Historical data, large and small, show that the prediction results are crucial to the fame of astrologers, but their IQ, EQ, insight into people's hearts, data collection and analysis of the world seem to be more critical. Since Roman times, the king has held a love-hate attitude towards astrologers. Alexander the Great threw the astrologer off the cliff to prove that the astrologer could not predict his own death. Since then, the story of love and killing between the king and the astrologer has been staged. King Louis Xi of France wanted to kill the star and occupy the whole family, so he asked him if he knew how many days he had left to live. The star and the occupation family analyzed the king's intention from various details, saying that he would die three days before the king. The French king didn't start work when he heard it. Since then, he has been concerned about the health of stars and occupied the family. For professional astrologers, collecting and querying the birthdays of powerful people is also one of the secrets of their success. For example, the famous astronomer Kepler, who was also a famous European astrologer in the17th century, knew who this person was before he performed an astrolabe for an anonymous aristocrat. Later, British astrologers who opened consulting offices often used personality analysis, psychological analysis and other methods to solve problems for the people, and at the same time, combined with the social atmosphere at that time, made suggestions for customers.

Star astrologers have long occupied an important position in western history, which has a lot to do with their intellectual status. Although it seems that they are fortune tellers, don't forget that these predictions must rely on precise and accurate scientific calculations. They have rich knowledge of astronomy and geography, and many astrologers are philosophers. They have insight into people's hearts. It can be said that astrologers in history are all wise people. It is also inevitable that wise men should shoulder heavy responsibilities.

Many astrologers are people with high IQ and EQ. Won't they find the limitations and contingency of astrology in prediction? Do those great kings who usually think highly of themselves really believe what astrologers say? There are nobles, intellectuals and ordinary people. Do they really believe in astrology?

For the ruling class, besides caring about their own destiny, astrology is their political tool. The most obvious is the Roman era, when the Romans "widely used astrology in endless political intrigue." The emperor's fortune-telling horoscope is a secret and often becomes the focus of conspiracy. The rebels want to spy on the secret and make trouble through it. Rulers executed political opponents on the charge of "consulting astrologers, when is the best time to assassinate the emperor", and astrologers became tools, intertwined with the Roman court conspiracy. In addition to using astrology for conspiracy activities, astrology has played an important role in consolidating state rule and unifying people's hearts. Its origin in Mesopotamia was first to serve the emperor's rule. For another example, Alexander the Great himself did not believe in astrology, but he still used astrology to help his great cause. His military flag is a golden bull pattern, which is said to be related to astrology.

Is astrology just a tool for astrologers to rule, plot and make a living? No, we have neglected its greatest function-alleviating human fears and anxieties about the unknown. Regardless of class, wealth and knowledge, all people are more or less anxious about the unknown. This anxiety can be alleviated by astrology. Human beings want to be gods and hate all "out of control". Emperor Aurelius, who left the famous Meditations, didn't have much contact with astrologers during his lifetime, but at the last stage of his life, he asked astrologers to draw his son's horoscope to decide who would be the heir of the empire. Ordinary people, such as ordinary people, will consult the family of star Zhan and get guidance when they lose their economy, work and marriage and their relatives leave their hometown. Astrologers themselves believe that everything in the world has been predicted by celestial movement, and they have the key to spy on the future; Religious people also believe that the predictions made by astrologers are in God's overall plan.

Astrology and astrology have a wide influence, perhaps because it releases our sense of powerlessness in the face of the unknown.

Finally, I want to talk about the mysterious part of astrology. The author mentioned in the book that in addition to probability theory, psychology (among many factors that predict success, the most important is suggestion) and sociology, there are some well-documented successful predictions, which look quite good from various situations and are really puzzling. Let's go back to the famous Kepler. He and his teacher Tycho, also a famous astronomer, divined for the Swedish king and Czech aristocrats respectively during the Thirty Years' War. Their astrological predictions about these two great men have been surprisingly verified. Even more exaggerated is Kepler. His calculation of the star occupation of Czech aristocrat wallenstein ended with 1634, and he didn't want to continue the calculation. 1664, it was reported that a ship sank, but at that time, the famous British astrologer Lily calculated that the ship was safe and sound, and later it turned out that he was right. ......

Regarding these unexplained successful predictions in history, the author said, "Perhaps, when astrologers-those who have been addicted to mysticism for many years-face the meditation of the Heavenly Palace, can there really be some revelations that modern science can't understand to let them see the future?" In addition, we also see that although astrology has gradually lost its former role and charm with the development of modern science (astronomy and astrology are separated, meteorology makes meteorological astrology decline, and the development of medicine leads to the decline of medical astrology and so on). ), it still has no tendency to die out. At the end of the 20th century, there were still people like the philosopher Faye Abend. Scientists who cynically attacked astrology thought that they didn't understand astrology, a science rooted in ancient times. Perhaps we really don't understand the mystery of astrology; Maybe one day astrology will be exciting again.

"The ancient astrology, which has been inseparable from astronomy for thousands of years, has not died out in modern society; And it is not easy to completely refute it in theory. -"Astrology in World History"