Day 95 Morning - Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrolgy And The Difference Between Cynicism And Pessimism

Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology has been a huge influence on me, ever since I first read him in the now defunct Village View back in the late 1990s. Here is a link to Brezsny's Free Will Astrology site. When I read his horoscopes, they are not about predicting the future, but about challenging my perspective in regards to how I am approaching and perceiving the present. Rob Brezsny consistently challenges his readers to be positive and to see life as an adventure to be engaged and valued and loved.

These days it is so easy for me to fall into pessimism. I do my best to avoid cynicism because I have never forgotten how Albert Camus defined the difference between cynicism and pessimism. Camus believed that the difference is that pessimism implies hope. With cynicism, there is no hope. The cynics drink their extra dry martinis on the wayside of resignation, caring nothing about other people and embracing with a dead humor the wasteland that is to come. In contrast, pessimists see the reality of the world with all of its inequality and warts and even horrors, but they have faith that things can change. They have the hope that through action we can revolutionize and improve our world.

Albert Camus Smokes A Cigarette And Beholds A Wondrous Life

This idea is perhaps best expressed by the Italian socialist politician Pietro Nenni (1891-1980), whose daughter died in Auschwitz. In the twilight of his life, he wrote in a letter to a colleague :

"My dear friend, life should be looked at with the pessimism of intelligence, with the critical sense of doubt, but also with the optimism of the will.  When there's a will, nothing is fatal, nothing is inevitable, nothing is unchangeable.  
          I told you at the beginning: I believe in man.  Man the creator of his own destiny."


Yes, if we embrace the will and believe in change, it is incredible what we can actually accomplish.  As to Mr. Rob Brezsny's Horoscope for this coming week, here we go below...                                                                                                                                  

"Try to be surprised by something every day," advises Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. That's an inspirational idea for everyone all the time, but especially for you Scorpios right now. This is the week of all weeks when you have the best chance of tinkering with your rhythm so that it will thrive on delightful unpredictability. Are you brave enough to capitalize on the opportunity? I think you are. Concentrate your attention on cultivating changes that feel exciting and life-enhancing.

I am not sure how I can cultivate such changes this week, but I will do my best to try and follow the road not taken. I love that poem by Robert Frost, and I actually rewrote it back in the day as a homage to the original. Below is my rewrite, and I shall cultivate change by writing poetry and seeing what comes from my pen and believing that the rash will pass and those distant dreams will edge a little closer today.

The Future Not Taken

            — after Robert Frost

Two futures diverged in the word should,

And sorry I could not ignore both

And stay perfectly still, long I stood

And sagged into one as far as I could

To where it bent past a childhood growth;

Then took the other, not quite as fair,

But having perhaps the better claim,

Because it allowed you not to care;

Though as for that, the failing there

Had worn us out about the same,

And both in morning equally lay

In hopes no fears had cancered black.

Oh, I kept the faith for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever turn back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere pages and pages hence:

Two futures diverged in "He Should", and I—

I took the one without the why,

And from there rose all our diffidence.

Day 48 Night - Today's Horoscope for Scorpio and the Secrets of the Fire Horse

Sometimes stumbling upon your horoscope and discovering that it applies almost perfectly to what is happening in your life at the moment can be downright unnerving. Here is a perfect example — My Horoscope Today (48 Hours before Treatment Starts) — Right now, your physical health will be greatly affected by your emotional health. Feeling good about who you are and where you are in life will go a long way toward helping your body feel good. It's true that positive thinking alone can't heal a cut or soothe a burned finger, but it can go an awful long way toward helping you keep your faith that things (and you) will get better. So if you scrape your knee or feel a cold coming on, keep thinking positive!

It is a little scary how incredibly accurate such sarcasm can be...

Do I believe in Astrology? Well, I am known to say that I don't believe in astrology, particularly with a capital A, except when it comes to my own sign. That is such a Scorpio kind of attitude. In actuality, I don't know whether it is true or valid or untrue or invalid, but I don't think that really matters. What I think matters is how you react and respond when you read your horoscope. If you want something to come true, if you believe in what is written, such a response reveals a lot about your state of mind and the unconscious lingerings of your psyche. It is all in the initial reaction, the power of wish fulfillment, the fear of being cursed and forsaken, and the desire to be great and utterly fabulous. I am not sure the word fabulous really works in this context, but, with a flash of Billy Crystal's days on Saturday Night Live in my mind, I simply had to use the word as it danced across my lips.

Another night and I will write about my astrologer in Greece, and what she said to me with a quivering smile when she did my chart and saw what she saw. In the Chinese Zodiac, I am a Fire Horse. This is what a website says about the Fire Horse and I like how it combines with the Scorpion.

Fire Horse people are intelligent, knowledgeable, charming and popular. They are courageous and adventurous who love to try out new things. They are born winners. Fire Horse people are sociable, attractive and are well liked by their colleagues and friends. They are optimistic and possess good leadership qualities. Fire Horse people are well-respected by others for their leadership-by-example style and they are always ready to lend a helping hand to those in need. Fire Horse people are incredibly lucky. They love the excitement of action, challenges and the change it brings. The Fire element makes Fire Horse people passionate and intense about their feelings. They are decisive and always take a stand in a situation. Fire Horse people are never on the fence about anything and have definitive opinions about situations and the world. They are spiritually inclined as well. The fire is always burning inside Fire Horses. They love living on the edge and are always ready for change as change always is more interesting. They are incredibly opinionated and one place you’ll never find Fire Horses is standing on the fence. Legend has it that the Fire Horse will consume everything in his path and wreak havoc wherever he goes. Many a lady Fire Horse, so they say, has ruined the life of a good man simply because of her passionate nature. The male Fire Horse is not always considered as bad; he may even be fortunate as he can bring distinction on himself and be credited with famous as well as infamous deeds. The Fire Horse carries within himself the seeds of fame ... or of notoriety!


Good to know. And I know exactly what my father would say in response to this blog: "John, with that and a token, you can take the subway." Yes, he is right as he tends to be when it comes down to the brass tacks of life, but I do so enjoy floating in the clouds and waltzing with the fantastic and tangoing with the metaphysical and dreaming of a world where such beliefs are as tangible as the virus within. In a few hours, if I happen to taste the fruit of sleep, I shall wake and it will be another day and I still will be a Scorpio and a Fire Horse and a 44-year old man with Hepatitis C.