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Horoscopes Facts and arguments about your future Peter Urs Bender Without knowing your birth date, I bet I can cast your horoscope. It will convince you I know all about you. Try this on for size: Sometimes you are too honest about your feelings and you reveal too much of yourself. You are good at thinking things through for yourself and you like to see proof before you change your mind about anything.Does that sound like you? When I try it out on people who attend my seminars, they always agree that it describes them nearly 90% of the time. Even I am not immune. My colleague John Robert Colombo did the very same reading for me. He sucked me in completely. I agreed that 80% of it was 100% me. Everyone likes to hear nice things about him or herself, especially from a knowledgeable friend. How did you feel the last time you read a positive, flattering assessment of yourself and your behavior? If I asked you how much of the above reading applied to you, and you replied, "It's me!" would you trust me to continue? The answer is probably yes. Such readings tend to create a measure of trust between reader and recipient that might not be warranted. Moral? Retain your left-brain analytical sense of "disbelief" when faced with what seems at first glance to be a remarkable character insight from someone you know doesn't know you. Yet this so-called horoscope is quite calculated. It's not too difficult to figure out what people want to hear about themselves. There is no need to consult the stars or planets. Just think what you'd like to hear about yourself, and then write it down in a manner calculated to appeal to others. To see just how well this works, compare it to the following reading. It's more or less the same, except the meaning of every statement has been reversed. Very few people would say it fits them. (However, I bet you have a relative who fits the reading perfectly!)On the other hand, you might like to try casting a horoscope for yourself. It can be fascinating, especially if you are prepared to listen to your inner voice. Properly used, a horoscope can be as revealing as a personality test, or a psychological profile. Horoscopes done as a form of self-analysis can be helpful in putting you in touch with your most intuitive feelings. The great Swiss psychologist Carl G. Jung believed that fortune telling (and astrology is a form of fortune-telling) is a way of helping us get in touch with our subconscious. It's a way of coming to grips with "feelings" we have about life, but often can't elaborate. What do human beings want to know about themselves? Most of us want and need to know we're "nice guys". Very few of us want to be villains. Most of us also want to know what the future will hold for us. On that score, forget about horoscopes. They can't foretell anything. It's not too difficult to appreciate that if you're constantly angry with yourself and other people, you are likely to ruin more relationships. Shakespeare's said: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings." In other words, fate (the stars, planets, etc.) is not what drives us to be and do the things we do, but the personality within us. That's why I insist, "Your past was perfect to get you where you are today." Where will you be tomorrow? Look to your own past and your own desire and ability to change. If horoscopes help you to make your day more productive…please keep on reading them. But remember what La Rochefoucauld, the 17th-century French statesman said: "Flattery is counterfeit money which, but for vanity, would have no circulation." Watch it! To read excerpts from his books visit www.PeterUrsBender.com. |
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© Peter Urs Bender
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