Q&A: Astrology
Astrology
Question
Hello, I have a somewhat silly question, but this really, really is not trolling.
In the past, the belief was that through the stars one could predict a person’s future and character. Today, one of the forces that governs the universe is gravity, which says (in the most simplified way possible, as I understand it) that two masses attract one another. The sun attracts the earth, the earth attracts the moon, and so on and so on. That means that the stars do in some way affect the universe.
Of course, back then they didn’t know all this and didn’t understand the universe that way, but isn’t it possible that they did identify some kind of regularity in the motion of the stars, such that their position affects us?
By the way, does the whole matter of the zodiac originate with the Sages, or did they simply agree with the scholars of the nations of the world?
Answer
As far as I know, the whole matter of the zodiac originated among the gentiles, but I am not sufficiently expert in this. In any case, the Talmud in Pesachim says that the sages of Israel conceded to the sages of the nations of the world on the question of whether the sphere stands still and the constellations revolve, or vice versa.
I do not see any connection between the imperceptible influences of the stars on us and on what happens here, and the force of gravity. It’s good that you wrote that this isn’t trolling, because it really looks like it is.
Discussion on Answer
And how exactly is that connected to predicting the future?
Of course the stars affect us. They made sure to keep us stupid for a very long time.
I have a difficulty with your view, Decisor, for there is a star named Jupiter, and it is written, “Righteousness shall go before him,” meaning it goes regarding the face, and the star has reflected light, meaning the star Jupiter will illuminate the face, and it is written, “A man’s wisdom lights up his face,” and all in all it comes out that the star Jupiter gives wisdom. So how can you say that the stars made sure to keep us stupid? On the contrary, on the contrary — all our wisdom is from them, and through them our eyes are enlightened.
It is written explicitly:
And God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars.
According to your view of the role of the stars, it should have said, “and the stars for wisdom.” Since it does not say that, all that remains is to say that their role is to keep us stupid.
If the physicochemical processes in the human body determine or intensify certain traits in a person’s character, and gravity contributes its modest share to these processes as one of the four fundamental forces, then it could be that there is a connection between the character of, say, an angry person and Jupiter’s drawing closer to Mars. No?
Anything is possible within the limits of physics (the speed at which influence can propagate over distance).
Wait, what?!?!
Did the questioner say that the stars create this force? Or that it exists independently of them? If they create the force according to their position, then they also ‘decide’ allllll of evolution from the beginning of the universe to its end…
“Is not My word like fire,” the last physicist