現在位置 : 資訊 > 星座學是毫無科學根據的迷信 (Astrology is groundless superstition.)
星座學是毫無科學根據的迷信
星座學(astrology)或占星術是用天體的相對位置和相對運動(尤其是太陽系內的行星的位置)來解釋或預言人的命運和行為的系統。它試圖利用人的出生地、出生時間和天體的位置來解釋人的性格和命運。世界上各個文化有非常不同的占星術體系和理論。占星術士之間對占星術的使用範圍的意見也不一致。在占星術中,天文現象的任何特定影響只局限於地球上的一個特定的地點和時間,在其它地點和時間的影響是不同的。因為地球上所有的人看到的天文現象基本上大致相同,因此占星術的客觀性只是表面的。這也是自然科學對占星術最主要的批評。今天占星術的預言一般都是象徵性的,它們都是無法用物理科學來驗證。 現代科學將佔星術判定為一門偽科學。對占星術的批評包括它依賴猜想,無法提供假說,難以證明,並將自然現象以現代科學無法證實的超自然原因進行描述。有研究認為占星術持續流行的原因可以通過心理學方法解釋為一種認知偏見。例如多數占星術者認為所有行星都應當被列入占星術的考慮範圍,但由於星圖上的錯誤,他們卻沒能預測到海王星的存在。海王星的存在最終通過牛頓萬有引力定律得到證實。 至今為止沒有任何可以解釋天體的位置如何影響人的命運的物理理論。有些人說,星辰的引力可以影響一個人,但實際上一個人出生的醫院的牆壁、門窗的質料是什麼樣的所產生的引力的變化可能比宇宙中所有星辰的引力的影響都要大。因此大多數自然科學家認為占星術是一門偽科學。1975年,美國186位知名科學家(當中包括18位諾貝爾得獎者),在《人道主義者》雜誌上發表聯署文章,以批判占星術,指稱為偽科學。 Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy, the mad daughter of a wise mother.
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Astrology - Ignorant and Enslaving Superstition
The Practice Of Magic Gradually science is removing the gambling element from life. But if modern methods of education should fail, there would be an almost immediate reversion to the primitive beliefs in magic. These superstitions still linger in the minds of many so-called civilized people. Language contains many fossils which testify that the race has long been steeped in magical superstition, such words as spellbound, ill- starred, possessions, inspiration, spirit away, ingenuity, entrancing, thunderstruck, and astonished. And intelligent human beings still believe in good luck, the evil eye, and astrology. Ancient magic was the cocoon of modern science, indispensable in its time but now no longer useful. And so the phantasms of ignorant superstition agitated the primitive minds of men until the concepts of science could be born. Today, Urantia is in the twilight zone of this intellectual evolution. One half the world is grasping eagerly for the light of truth and the facts of scientific discovery, while the other half languishes in the arms of ancient superstition and but thinly disguised magic. Shamanistic Practices The medicine men put great trust in signs and omens, such as, "When you hear the sound of a rustling in the tops of the mulberry trees, then shall you bestir yourself." Very early in the history of the race the shamans turned their attention to the stars. Primitive astrology was a world-wide belief and practice; dream interpreting also became widespread. All this was soon followed by the appearance of those temperamental shamanesses who professed to be able to communicate with the spirits of the dead. Though of ancient origin, the rain makers, or weather shamans, have persisted right on down through the ages. A severe drought meant death to the early agriculturists; weather control was the object of much ancient magic. Civilized man still makes the weather the common topic of conversation. The olden peoples all believed in the power of the shaman as a rain maker, but it was customary to kill him when he failed, unless he could offer a plausible excuse to account for the failure. Again and again did the Caesars banish the astrologers, but they invariably returned because of the popular belief in their powers. They could not be driven out, and even in the sixteenth century after Christ the directors of Occidental church and state were the patrons of astrology. Thousands of supposedly intelligent people still believe that one may be born under the domination of a lucky or an unlucky star; that the juxtaposition of the heavenly bodies determines the outcome of various terrestrial adventures. Fortunetellers are still patronized by the credulous. The Greeks believed in the efficacy of oracular advice, the Chinese used magic as protection against demons, shamanism flourished in India, and it still openly persists in central Asia. It is an only recently abandoned practice throughout much of the world. Astrology. This pseudo science of Babylon developed into a religion throughout the Greco-Roman Empire. Even in the twentieth century man has not been fully delivered from this superstitious belief. The Life And Teachings of Jesus Late that evening Jesus gave the united group a memorable talk on "Magic and Superstition." In those days the appearance of a bright and supposedly new star was regarded as a token indicating that a great man had been born on earth. Such a star having then recently been observed, Andrew asked Jesus if these beliefs were well founded. In the long answer to Andrew's question the Master entered upon a thoroughgoing discussion of the whole subject of human superstition. The statement which Jesus made at this time may be summarized in modern phraseology as follows: The courses of the stars in the heavens have nothing whatever to do with the events of human life on earth. Astronomy is a proper pursuit of science, but astrology is a mass of superstitious error which has no place in the gospel of the kingdom. The examination of the internal organs of an animal recently killed can reveal nothing about weather, future events, or the outcome of human affairs. The spirits of the dead do not come back to communicate with their families or their onetime friends among the living. Charms and relics are impotent to heal disease, ward off disaster, or influence evil spirits; the belief in all such material means of influencing the spiritual world is nothing but gross superstition. Casting lots, while it may be a convenient way of settling many minor difficulties, is not a method designed to disclose the divine will. Such outcomes are purely matters of material chance. The only means of communion with the spiritual world is embraced in the spirit endowment of mankind, the indwelling spirit of the Father, together with the outpoured spirit of the Son and the omnipresent influence of the Infinite Spirit. Divination, sorcery, and witchcraft are superstitions of ignorant minds, as also are the delusions of magic. The belief in magic numbers, omens of good luck, and harbingers of bad luck, is pure and unfounded superstition. The interpretation of dreams is largely a superstitious and groundless system of ignorant and fantastic speculation. The gospel of the kingdom must have nothing in common with the soothsayer priests of primitive religion. The spirits of good or evil cannot dwell within material symbols of clay, wood, or metal; idols are nothing more than the material of which they are made. The practices of the enchanters, the wizards, the magicians, and the sorcerers, were derived from the superstitions of the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the ancient Canaanites. Amulets and all sorts of incantations are futile either to win the protection of good spirits or to ward off supposed evil spirits. He exposed and denounced their belief in spells, ordeals, bewitching, cursing, signs, mandrakes, knotted cords, and all other forms of ignorant and enslaving superstition. http://urantiabook.org/newbook/ub/ppr150_3.html#P150_3_2 |