Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter http://ezezine.com
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
October 13, 2010
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For a pretty version of this newsletter, go here:
http://bit.ly/FWA-10-14
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IS PRONOIA JUST FOR RICH, COMFORTABLE PEOPLE? Part 2
Excerpted from *PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA*
available at Amazon: http://bit.ly/Pronoia
or Powells: http://bit.ly/PronoiaPowells
On many of the mornings when I wake up in my soft bed, surrounded by
the perks of my temperature-controlled home and ready to enjoy another
mysteriously interesting day, I am visited by the urge to murmur a prayer
of gratitude like "Thank you a billion and one times, Whoever or Whatever
You are that gave me this lavish riot of beauty." I am flooded with
ecstatic appreciation as I taste the honey mingle with the sour flesh of
the organic grapefruit, or when my lover cracks a quirky joke right before
she kisses me twice, once on each eyelid, or when my daughter emails me
the enigmatic new poem she wrote.
But what brings me even sharper pangs of personal elation, what evokes
an even more exuberant longing to celebrate, are those moments when I
deeply feel the successes that are unfolding for human beings far away
from me -- successes like the irrevocable decline of global poverty and
child mortality (discussed in Part 1 of this series:
http://bit.ly/RichComfy).
And I know many people who nurture a similar aim. Our numbers are
growing. Before now, there has never before been a time when so many
people have actively cultivated a capacity for transcendental empathy.
Before now, there has never before been a time when millions and millions
of us have taken concrete action to improve the well-being of those
we've never met. We are currently living in the most compassionate
moment in the history of civilization.
In his well-researched book *Blessed Unrest:_How the Largest Movement
in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming,* Paul
Hawken argues that organized political action devoted to advancing the
rights of other people is a relatively new phenomenon, less than 200
years old. The drive to abolish slavery was where it began. In recent
decades it has grown exponentially, becoming a global crusade to improve
social justice, economic conditions, human rights, and environmental
health. We take it for granted, but it is a surprising and unprecedented
development.
By Hawken's estimates, there are well over a million organizations
engaged in the effort, which thrives without centralized leadership,
charismatic front men, or a fixed ideology. Because of its grass-roots
ubiquity, it is largely invisible to the mass media and underestimated by
politicians.
Some day, maybe 500 years from now, our descendants will have
installed the art and science of universal compassion as the first law of
civilization. And I bet they will give honor to us, the people alive on the
planet today, as the heroes who gave critical mass to their prime
directive.
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For those who are dogmatically predisposed to thinking that the world is a
hellhole, no amount of contrary evidence will change their minds. The
cynic who asked me the following question didn't really want an answer:
"Tell me how your pronoia explains a child in Darfur starving to death
after watching soldiers kill his mommy?"
While I don't claim to have the authoritative response to that accusation,
I think it's worthwhile to consider the possibility that suffering is, among
other things, a difficult gift we humans are given in order to prod our
evolution.
On a personal level, our longing to escape our suffering is a primal force in
making us smarter. On a collective level, nothing refines and ennobles us
more than our passion to keep others from suffering. For every dead child
in Darfur, 100 people in other places on the planet have responded with a
commitment to create a world in which future Darfurs won't happen.
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TUNE IN NEXT WEEK to PART THREE of the series, "Is Pronoia Just for
Rich, Comfortable People?"
To read Part One of the series, go here: http://bit.ly/RichComfy
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
MAYBE YOU'RE CAPABLE OF BEING HAPPIER THAN YOU THINK
Happiness levels are not predetermined. Genes and early life experience
don't set a limit on a person's happiness.
http://tinyurl.com/22vmx2e
BE ALERT FOR UNEXPECTED DANCING
Seahorses prove their love; so do raindancers
http://tinyurl.com/24k9ef9
http://tinyurl.com/2bsecc2
PRONOIA SNEAKS INTO THE WORKPLACE
A company that respects workers' rights, health, and their union -- and
not just in theory, but every working day.
http://tinyurl.com/33l9k9g
(Note: I endorse these because I like them. They are not advertisements,
and I get no kickbacks.)
Please tell me your own personal nominations for PRONOIA RESOURCES.
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning October 14
Copyright 2010 by Rob Brezsny
http://FreeWillAstrology.com
Grammar key: Asterisks equal *italics*
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Usually you specialize in having a light touch.
You'd rather nudge than push. Nimble harmony is more interesting to you
than brute force. You prefer your influence on people to be appreciated,
not begrudgingly respected. And I certainly don't want you to forsake any
of those inclinations. But I would love to see you add a dash of
aggressiveness and a pinch of vehemence to your repertoire in the
coming week. I'd be thrilled if you raised your voice a bit and gesticulated
more vigorously and projected your confidence with an elevated intensity.
According to my reading of the astrological omens, your refined approach
will benefit from a dose of subliminal thunder.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): *Time* magazine created a list of the 50
worst inventions. Included among the most terrible creations that human
ingenuity has ever come up with are plastic grocery bags, sub-prime
mortgages, hydrogenated oils, and pop-up ads. Now let's switch our
attention to your personal equivalents of these monstrosities. To climax
the atonement phase of your own astrological cycle, I recommend that
you do the following: 1. Identify the three worst ideas you have taken
seriously during the past decade. 2. Carry out one formal action to
correct or make amends for the consequences of each bad idea. 3. Really,
truly, forgive yourself as best as you can.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): For your assignment this week, I have
borrowed from a list of suggestions offered by Sagittarius poet Kenneth
Patchen in his book *The Journal of Albion Moonlight.* Feel free to
improvise as you carry out at least three. 1. Discourage all traces of
shame. 2. Bear no cross. 3. Extend all boundaries. 4. Blush perpetually in
gaping innocence. 5. Burrow beneath the subconscious. 6. Pass from one
world to another in carefree devotion. 7. Exhaust the primitive. 8.
Generate the free brain. 9. Forego no succulent filth. 10. Verify the
irrational. 11. Acquire a sublime reputation. 12. Make one monster at
least. 13. Multiply all opinions. 14. Inhabit everyone.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Among Google searches starting with the
phrase "who is," the top-rated is "God," while "Satan" is a distant tenth.
Running ahead of Satan but behind God are Lady Gaga and Justin Beiber.
If I were you, Capricorn, I wouldn't be Google-searching any bigger-than-
life entities like those four in the coming week. The characters you need
to research are non-divine, non-celebrity types who might bring
interesting influences into your life -- people who would have a direct
influence on your access to resources and on your ability to call forth the
best from yourself.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Explorers found a 30,000-year-old carved
stone artifact in a German cave and brought it to the University of
Tubingen for study. Experts there determined that it had a dual purpose
for the ancient humans who made it. Phallic-shaped with rings around one
end, it was obviously a sex toy. But other markings indicated it was also
used to start fires by striking it against flints. I'd like to make this power
object your symbol of the week, Aquarius. You're in a phase when you
should be alert for ways to mix business with pleasure and practicality
with adventure.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): You're not exceptionally scared of the dark,
Pisces, but sometimes you seem to be intimidated by the light. You can
summon the spunky courage to go crawling on your hands and knees
through dank tunnels and spooky caves in quest of treasure that's
covered in primordial goo, but you may play hard to get when you're
offered the chance to unburden yourself of your cares in wide-open
spaces. What's up with that? Don't get me wrong: I'm proud of your
capacity to wrestle with the shadows in the land of the lost; I'm gratified
by your willingness to work your karma to the bone. But I would also love
you to get a share of rejuvenating rest and ease now and then. Do you
think you could manage to have it both ways? I do.
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IF YOU WANT MORE FREE WILL ASTROLOGY,
TRY THE EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES
The horoscopes you read in this newsletter may be plenty for your needs.
But if you'd like to experience more of my thoughts about your current
situation, you might want to try my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES.
They're 4-to-5 minute meditations on the state of your life and where
you're going.
Sign in and access them here:
http://RealAstrology.com
The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or
1-900-950-7700.
"Your expanded audio horoscopes are the next best thing to actually
having you here next to me to remind me who I really am." - Alyssa R.,
Des Moines, Iowa
"When I listen to your audio 'scopes, my free will lights up." - Alex D., Los
Angeles
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ARIES (March 21-April 19): Until recently, no cricket had ever been
observed pollinating a flower. All the evidence showed, in fact, that
crickets don't help flowers -- they devour them. Then one night last
January on the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, researchers
discovered that the species known as the raspy cricket was responsible
for pollinating wild orchids. They even caught the magic act on film. I
regard this turn of events as akin to an upcoming development in your
life: Someone or something that you've never thought of as a fertilizing
force for you will become one.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): My date and I decided to go see the film *You
Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.* As we entered the theater, we passed a
short, elderly Chinese woman in a brown uniform. She was bent over
sweeping the floor. Suddenly she stood up straight, looked me in the eye,
and extended her left hand toward me. Confused, I reached out toward
her. She quickly pressed something in my hand, then returned to her
sweeping. As I walked on, I unrolled the small paper scroll she had given
me. It read, "Tell your Taurus readers they should be alert for helpful
messages coming from sources they would usually ignore or neglect." I'm
doing what she suggested.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Of all the signs in the zodiac, you are currently
the best at carrying out the following activities: gliding, flowing, leaping,
skipping, twirling, undulating, reverberating, galloping, and rub-a-dub-
dubbing. I suspect that you will also excel at rumbling, romping, rollicking,
cavorting, and zip-a-dap-doodling. If all goes well, Gemini -- which is to say
you show how much you love your body and throw off any inhibitions you
might have about celebrating your instinctual nature -- then you will be at
the low end of the scale in performing these activities: shuffling,
drooping, mumbling, wallowing, pigeonholing, and pussyfooting.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): A reader wrote to me bemoaning the fact
that her new Cancerian boyfriend is addicted to safety. She speculated
that since he is a member of an astrological sign renowned for its timidity,
she should probably either get used to the suffocating lack of action or
else bolt from the relationship now. In reply, I sent her a quote from one
of the most heroic Cancerians of the 20th century, Helen Keller: "Life is
either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature,
nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no
safer in the long run than exposure." Moral of the story: It's a ripe time
for you to rise up and refute the people in your life who think you're a
brooding wallflower.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Helping your fellow humans can literally enhance
your strength. A Harvard study (tinyurl.com/BeExtraNice) proved that
people who did good deeds or even visualized themselves doing good
deeds had increased physical endurance and willpower. Unfortunately, the
study showed that those who harbor nefarious intentions are also able to
draw on extra fortitude. In other words, you can boost your energy by
either being compassionate or evil. I highly recommend the former over
the latter, Leo, especially now that you're entering a phase when it makes
a lot of spiritual sense to build your courage, vigor, and tonicity.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): "The art of medicine consists of amusing the
patient while nature cures the disease," said French philosopher Voltaire.
With this in mind, let's evaluate your current discomfort. From what I can
tell, healing forces beyond your control and outside of your awareness are
going to be working their mojo to chip away at your problem. But it will
still be wise for you to occupy yourself in activities that you think will
expedite the fix. Doing so will minimize your anxieties, allowing nature to
do what it does best.
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HOMEWORK: For one week, pretend to already be something you're on
your way to becoming. Report your results by going to
Freewillastrology.com and clicking "Email Rob."
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WANT TO GET YOUR CHART DONE?
I'm not doing personal charts, but I highly recommend my astrological
colleague, RO LOUGHRAN. Her approach closely matches my own. In our
many discussions about astrology over the years, we've had a major
influence on each other's work.
Ro utilizes a blend of well-trained intuition, emotional warmth, and a high
degree of technical proficiency in horoscope interpretation; she is skilled
at exploring the mysteries of your life's purpose and nurturing your
connection with your own inner wisdom.
Ro is based in California, but can do phone consultations and otherwise
work with you regardless of geographic boundaries.
Ro's website is at
http://YourSoulJourney.com
She can also be reached at roloughran@comcast.net
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P.S. I totally respect your privacy. I'll never sell or give away your address
to anyone.
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright
2010 Rob Brezsny
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