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FAQs
This page will be added to at such time as questions are asked that require further clarification.
Index
- Why are certain words capitalised?
- Why the reliance on Wikipedia and Youtube?
- Why do I refer to his or her planet?
- What right have I to opine on other people's lives?
- What about birth times?
- Is this Idealism, Dualism, Epiphenomenalism?
Why are certain words capitalised?
I take a somewhat idosyncratic approach to the treatment of certain words as if they were proper nouns. This is deliberate, and to give the word an extra emphasis in the given context. Typically, the kind of word would be 'Time', or 'Science', or the like, and I do this because I can, and because I understand language to be a fluid, dynamic, and ultimately democratic thing that adapts to the way that animals choose to use it. I take a similar approach to commas.
Why the reliance on Wikipedia and Youtube?
This is not an academic work; one that demands references and citations. It is an explanation that I hope will be seen by many people who know little yet about the issues in question. Hence I believe iyt useful to provide links to relevant information, and in general I find that the content I look at on the internet is mostly reliable, and accessible, which is another essential feature.
Why do I refer to his or her planet?
When I write his Mars or her Venus, etc. what I mean is a person's natal planetary position for that particular planet. I may not always remember to write 'natal', and repeating it frequently just clutters the text, so sometimes it gets omitted.
What right have I to opine on other people's lives?
It is a fair point, one that can be levelled at anyone who writes anything about anyone else. In nearly all of the examples that I give, I don't know the individuals concerned, yet I treat their lives with a candour that they may not consent to, if they knew about it. I can only say that, my interest is always in the Astrology first and foremost, and I'd hope that I was as forthcoming about myself, as about others, without needlessly identifying people who are otherwise anonymous to the public at large.
What about birth times?
Birth times are always a contentious issue in Astrology. It is just the case that official records usually do not record such information, and unofficial records usually do not consider it important. Added to that, people's memories can be faulty. I'd have to say, there are only two birth times in the entire history of humankind that I'd guarantee, and those are of my children, for whom I was present at their births, with a watch at the ready [strangely this was five years and more, before I developed a real interest in Astrology.] For those whose birth time is unknown, I generally use 12 midday, unless there are good reasons to do otherwise. Midday works well for two reasons: One, it places the Moon in the centre of its possible positions, and as the Moon moves most quickly of the planets [excepting the Earth] that gives greatest accuracy, even though it will undoubtedly be incorrect at some sector - that is true of all positions, of all planets, at some potentially emergent level. The other reason for choosing midday is that it is the centre of the arc of the day, and so even if it does not get the entirety of the individual, it does capture something of the meaning of the day as a whole. Something similar to the centre point of Leo capturing mid-summer - midpoints are always of some significance in the relationships between anything, including beginnings and endings.
Is this Idealism, Dualism, Epiphenomenalism?
I have been asked, quite legitimately, whether the ideas I have described belong to one of many existant camps in the worlds of philosophy and consciousness studies. However, while it may seem that descriptions of non-material properties must belong to Idealism, or emergent consciousness must be qualia, and if amplified by the physical brain, must then be epiphenomena; really, I balk at joining any specific school, as the totality of Virtualism really seems to span most of the features of all of them. Virtualism is inclusive of so many ways of describing aspects of Existence that none are any more than a facet among a brilliant cut - I'd hope.
- It is not just Platonic Idealism, beause whole things will emerge from novel arrangements, in a manner more akin to the philosophy of Aristotle. But also, non-material wholes exert downward causation by means of constraints on emergence that is probable, rather than necessary, so a kind of partial idealism applies.
- It is not just Idealism, and not just Materialism, but taken together these are both fundamentally kinds of relationships, so there is no proper Dualism, although the four kinds of possible relationship, as elements, could potentially lead it to being called a fourfold theory, but neither would that be entirely correct.
- Consciousness emerges from the closeness of iconic mind to objects that may be perceived reality, or recalled past, or imagined fiction [as either fantasy, or as wisdom - the ability to predict what might occur], all kinds of mind rely on the analog nature of icons arising from the patterns of physical brain activity, where those patterns are not actually physical in the conventional manner. Parts of the patterns come from other facts, and so may include relationships that are not simple difference, i.e. not simply spatial, electromagnetic, etc. Not only that, but the physical activity is partially constrained by the objective truth of past experience giving downward causation, so it is misleading to say that mind is just epiphenomena of brain, because brain, in its activity, is as much epiphenomena of mind. It is a two-way street, regulated by Leibniz' Law.
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