Before We Begin — Thoughts on Spirituality, Astrology, and Inner Balance
Before we get into today’s questions, let me say this upfront:
Astronomy is a science, astrology is nonsense.
But if you say “I believe differently — I think planetary movements affect me,” then I leave you with today’s questions:
- Do I think my soul sometimes needs to be strengthened? Have I tried any techniques for this?
- What do I think about the laws of physics and interactions between matter? Do I believe spiritual ideologies have any influence over them?
- Is my individual purpose in life intertwined with others? Does my inner world influence the people I choose?
- What do I think about astrology? Do stars affect the flow of our lives?
- Do I read horoscopes or fortune-telling material? Have I ever tried them? Did they ever contribute anything to my situation at the time? Would I try them again?
- How do I maintain balance between my spiritual world and my material world?
We’ve come to the final part of this series on spirituality, mental state, and belief.
Although I don’t find today’s questions particularly meaningful, I still wanted to reflect a bit.
What interests me most is why people turn to things like fortune-telling or astrology in the first place.
As I mentioned in earlier posts:
Believing in the influence of a system greater than ourselves, associating our identity with this system, and thinking it directly controls us — this is a shortcut, and at the same time, a kind of biological adaptation.
As religions lose influence, new beliefs emerge.
This pattern will continue as long as humans exist.
Even though science has proven many things to be nonsensical, and even when most superstitions could be debunked with simple logic, people still continue to believe in the same things.
Or on the flip side, the superiority of science itself is sometimes turned into a kind of religion:
Without understanding its methodology, science fanboys emerge, treating science as infallible law, contrary to its skeptical and falsifiable nature.
For me, what we call “the soul” is nothing separate from the body.
On the contrary, it’s an illusion created by our brains — influenced by everything, from what we eat to the films we watch, from the weather to the air we breathe.
Could it be some kind of supernatural system?
If so, it’s a flawed and imperfect one.
Therefore, “strengthening the soul” actually means achieving emotional stability — and the way to do that is by knowing and recognizing our limits, and living our own life consciously.
As for the laws of physics:
Theories like string theory show that matter is interconnected in some way; gravity demonstrates that massive bodies influence one another; quantum physics explains many phenomena that seem unusual from a classical perspective.
But what does this have to do with us?
Well, it does — at a molecular and atomic level.
However, to those outside the field, these extraordinary phenomena can easily seem mystical, and through a bit of opportunism, they get turned into pop culture buzzwords.
For example, the term “quantum” has now become a trendy personal-development cliché, almost mystified or deified.
The same goes for astrology:
For centuries, people have seen the planets and the moon as mystical and sought meaning in them.
When ancient mythology, stories, and the individual search for meaning blend together, what emerges is absurd pop culture.
Despite many social experiments showing its randomness and the lack of any international standards, people continue to indulge in astrology — simply because it feels mystical and allows them to project larger meanings onto their lives.
Human psychology sometimes drains my optimism:
I am amazed at how easily people can be manipulated and how they so willingly believe their own illusions.
That’s why I think fortune-telling, astrology, and similar things are nothing more than psychological illusions.
If anyone disagrees, please explain how planetary movements affect humans with formulas.
And to those who might say “Well, not everything has a formula, maybe it just hasn’t been discovered yet”, I don’t have much to say — I’ll just keep marveling at how that belief continues to survive.
Of course, we interact with our surroundings — but this interaction is primarily social.
The balance between our physical world and our inner world is a biological, psychological, cultural, philosophical, and physical process.
The closer you get to yourself and to nature, the easier it becomes to achieve this balance.
Good luck on your journey!
bahadirhancicek 
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