RADIOACTIVE! RADIOACTIVE!
What, you haven't heard that on the radio a gatrillion times by now?
Anyway, the other day I was talking to a friend at work about my lack of wedding planning. "I'm sure everything will work out," she said, and then her eyes went wide. "Oh wait! I never asked you! What's his astrological sign? I'm a big believer in horoscopes."
Cue record scratch.
This is coming from a person who when I first met her, inspired me to ask if she was a cheerleader in high school - and I was right. She's pretty, bubbly, and loves Sex and the City reruns.
And, apparently, she believes in horoscopes.
It seems like so-called "new age" stuff is becoming increasingly acceptable. I guess it's part of our slightly less-judgy current culture. You can tell people you're a witch who communes with nature and while people might give you side eye, they're not going to tie you to a stake and throw logs at your feet.
I'm a bit of a skeptic personally. I tend to believe in what I see... but I'm by no means an atheist, so really, is believing in some omnipotent God any more realistic than believing in an energy healer? Where's the line? Is hypnosis crazier than "manifesting", which seems to be about wishing really really hard as far as I can tell? Do tarot cards make more sense than using crystals (for some purpose that I cannot divine, probably because I don't own any crystals)?
Maybe sounding semi-accepting of this stuff makes me seem like more of a hippie than I really am, but the thing is, I've met "regular" Christians who talk about "spiritual warfare" and literal demons. By the way, I still don't know what spiritual warfare is.
I've never been convinced that someone is psychic, but I've also never been convinced that anyone had a literal demon inside of them that needed exorcism. What do you guys think? Have you experienced anything new age-y that really worked? Do you have a solid opinion on where the line is between reasonable and totally out there?
Just for the record, my horoscope is totally inaccurate.
I wake up to that song a lot.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a horoscope person. They just seem silly and generic to me.
I LOVE crystals. Reading about them is fun for me and I write fantasy so sometimes that random information is useful. But the thought of using them for something creeps me out. Because it's like, if the crystal is actually doing something, what's making the crystal do something? I don't want to mess with that, just in case. Lol!
I don't know what spiritual warfare is either. My brother did a documentary about it in college, but if I ever had an inkling I've forgotten.
To me, something that is totally out there is the manifesting thing. You can't manifest something just because you want it. But there is an actual scientific principle behind focusing on something. If you focus on something, like say you want a new job, your brain will actually reorganize itself to make finding a new job a priority and you, in turn, will act accordingly by actively searching for a job, keeping an eye out for opportunities, and then applying for them.
But I always think people sometimes get new agey stuff crisscrossed with science.
I really agree about the new age/science thing, and manifesting - it just makes sense that if you're spending a lot of time and energy thinking about a goal, that you'll encourage yourself to take steps toward it.
DeleteIn general, I think of most of this stuff the way I think about karma: it kind of doesn't matter, because you can choose whether or not to believe in it with exactly the same amounts of proof.