On Prophecy


Deep philosophy for a Tuesday

Growing up during the 1970s, I caught the edge of the Mystical Experience fad. The world was full of Things We Did Not Know We Knew, or perhaps Ancient Wisdom from Beyond. Chief among these in American pop culture at the time was Nostradamus, the Man Who Knew Tomorrow.

Remember when I warned about people who spoke in capitals?

Part of this was probably an Orson Wells film (although that came in the 1980s). Part of it was probably an In Search Of episode. Throw in a Hal Lindsey film or two and my desire to find stuff outside of a Biblical context ( I had some "issues"), and you get a grand mishmash.

There are some fairly decent English translations and commentaries on Nostradamus. That brings us to issue number one. Translation.

Now de Nostredame has a pretty impressive reputation. Often it's only a letter or two that separates one of his verses from an actual event. Hisler/Hitler is probably the best known example, and it looks extremely important. Until you find out that Hisler was also the name of a place near the Danube river.

Then you find out that the quatrains date everything from the Council or Nicea, so you have to add 325 to any dates actually mentioned. Except de Nostredame doesn't always do dates that way. And that brings us to the second issue. Context.

Except there isn't any.

Those who his writings will say that this verse matches up with this verse to tell you something about this third verse.

Gods, it was my second cousin telling me about Biblical prophecy all over again. Yes, you could wring meaning from it, but mostly it was the meaning that you and your beliefs projected onto the situation.

And who is to say which prophecy is more correct? Do you go from the Bible? The sayings of Mother Shipton? The verses of Theodor Geisel? The collected wisdom of the NeoWayland?

I've seen some dead on predictions that would amaze anyone. I also know at least one astrologer who quit in 2001 because she saw nothing about 9-11.

Prophecy can be comforting. After all, if everything is already decided, there's no need for responsibility. It's Destiny and you might as well enjoy the ride. Nothing you do will matter.

But I had also read Colin Wilson. One of the things he loved to trot out was tragedy averted because someone did glimpse the future and changed things.

So is it all predestination? Or do humans and our decisions matter?

Notice that we've wondered into some pretty heavy theological questions here.

I wish I could tell you that I had some grand and glorious insight from a Divine messenger that would settle these questions.

I've no gift for aurgury. Tarot cards and rune stones give me patterns that I bring to the question. The future is closed to me until I've lived the present and experience it.

But I can't rule out that sometimes knowledge does penetrate time and space.

Like a lot of things, my maternal grandfather gave me what I needed to understand. He used to be a farmer. After he retired, he was a gardener. He worked harder at that garden than most people worked at their jobs. He was the one who planted and weeded and tended, but he wasn't totally in control. He had squash and tomatoes, but he was growing a garden, not producing specific fruit or a targeted number.

I do think that gods exist, mostly. Except on the occasional alternate Tuesday and some Monday mornings between two and three a.m. But it doesn't make any sense to me for the gods or destiny or what have you to control our every single action.

We get nudged but we are still responsible for our own choices. And not just individually.

It's not about growing humans. It's about producing effective choices.

Ultimately Destiny is beyond our grasp and our perception. The best we can do is find a way to live with each other. So I think I will finish with my favorite version of the Ethic of Reciprocity.

"Be excellent to each other.

Party On, Dudes!"

Here's hoping that you seize the day and make it your own.

Posted: Tue - July 27, 2010 at 01:10 PM
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