Pluto, God and Traffic Jams

A friend is mine is deeply into astrology. I don't mean the simplistic newspaper horoscopes, which rarely seem to sing from the same hymn-sheet - or do I mean star-chart? Today, for example, I am being told that I am "well-equipped to handle other people's deep emotions." As a body psychotherapist I'm very relieved to hear this. Elsewhere I am told that I am feeling tired and that I need to indulge myself with rest. Strangely, immediately below this advice I am invited to click on a link labelled 'Should I take breast enlargement pills?' Now I am very comfortable with bodies - in my work I see all shapes and sizes - but as I'm happy in my skin I think I shall decline this offer. Even more strangely, yet another horoscope warns that colleagues may try to convince me to take up a silly cause. Ermm, like taking moob pills?

No, this friend is into the serious stuff. And the other day she informed me that Pluto has gone retrograde, so until September the astrological forces at work will be highlighting "the desires of the soul which are not working anymore." You have been warned.

Now much as I love my friend, we do disagree on astrology. She regards it as an essential tool for managing her life, something that gives her forewarning about the influences and tendencies surrounding her. In that sense it's like traffic information for drivers. There are roadworks on the M4, Reading FC are playing at home today and there are speed traps between Swindon and Chippenham; so if you're driving from London to Bristol, allow extra time for your journey.

The problem for me is that the traffic information is based on a reality that I can understand. Workmen have put cones up on the M4. The police have parked a white van on a motorway bridge in Wiltshire. Reading FC fans are driving towards Madejski Stadium... My paths will cross these things in the near future. That is a reality I can comprehend. It impacts my life, and awareness of these facts gives me options - choices about how and when I travel.

But Pluto going retrograde is a wholly different matter. My friend would say that this too impacts my life, and awareness of the fact gives me choices. But I'm uncomfortable with it. Even more uncomfortably, often the things she mentions turn out to be accurate. I haven't made a scientific study, but I've registered enough 'coincidences' to feel unable to reject it all out of hand. Is it really so very different from traffic information or a weather forecast? I don't know. But I do know that it feels different.

It's like the question about God and free will. God, being omniscient, knows what we're going to do. But if he knows right now - before we've even done it - then our future actions and choices are apparently already made. I can do nothing other than what I am going to do. In which case, do I really have a choice? And if I don't have a choice, how can I be responsible for my actions?

Philosophers and theologians continue to grapple with this debate. Better minds than mine have failed to win the argument one way or another. So what is left?

I feel that if we do not have free will then the lives we lead do not make sense, the society we live in is a collective fantasy - no, a complete sham. If I do not have free will, then who - and what - am I?

For myself I have to assert that we have free will. I'm not sure if that is true - but I choose to believe it. This is not denial - denial is a defence mechanism in which people unconsciously refuse to acknowledge painful thoughts, feelings or realities. I am fully aware of the both the reality, the possbilities and my own feelings. Knowing the uncertainties I choose to act. And I act knowing that maybe it's all a huge cosmic joke.

But then that's life. We navigate our way between dreams and reality, hopes and fears, joy and pain, on an uncertain road leading... somewhere. Don't worry about Pluto, God and traffic jams; fasten your seatbelt and enjoy the ride.

Stop reading! Quota exceeded.

I've just spotted an advert for Sony's new eBook reader. It starts off:

"160 books under one cover
Imagine having your entire book collection whenever, wherever"

Entire book collection? 160 books? I assume that Sony have performed extensive market research and concluded that's how many the typical reader owns. Turning my head, I can see at least that many on the shelves behind me. In fact, 179 - I just got up and counted them. Many, many more are scattered throughout my home. Do I read too much? I don't think so - I'm very aware of how many of those behind me I haven't yet read. 20, maybe 30? From heavyweight therapy tomes to escapist holiday reading, books are an integral part of my space.

A friend asked for some practical advice recently (as she does frequently on all sorts of matters). After I'd given her my thoughts, she said "How do you know all these things?"

Books. And, over the last 10 years or so, increasingly the web. And that's the fundamental difference between me and her. She's had - I forget how many husbands and children. She's explored the world in one way, I in another. My collection of books wouldn't fit on Sony's latest offering. But the fullness of her life can't be captured that way either.

There was a point to all this, but it quite escapes me. Now, where did I put that book on memory tips and techniques..?

Space: Clean Water or McDonalds on Mars?

There was an interesting article by Lucy and Stephen Hawking in The Times at the weekend about the future of space exploration. I'm sure you know the background: with so much need on Earth, is it justifiable to spend billions on space research and exploration? Stephen H is - as you would imagine - in favour. His main reason was to ensure that this world - humanity in the collective - has a future. I understand his point, although some of what he said made me squirm slightly. Comparing the world now to the world just before Columbus set sail in 1492, he comments: "The discovery of the new world made a profound difference to the old. Just think, we wouldn't have KFC or the Big Mac."

When the amount spent on space could probably provide clean drinking water for the entire Third World, and when you look at the problems caused by junk food, this is a rather unfortunate comment. Yes, I'm sure he means it as a humorous way of getting people to think about the issue in everyday terms, but still... Forget clean water! We can have a McDonalds on Mars in 50 years! Is that the best you can do, Stephen?

For myself, I feel both sides of the discussion. I instinctively feel it is wrong to spend money on hi-tech projects when so many in the world are suffering. And yet...

I believe that we do need big dreams. We do need new frontiers. At least, men do. Here in Western societies, for the first time ever we have no frontiers. Throughout history, people who didn't wish to be a member of society could simply leave - travel into the wilderness and build a new home where they wanted. Hunt, trap and live off the land. But gradually that possibility has been contracting, and now only exists in fairy tales. People who are cast out or wish to be outsiders have nowhere to go. They gravitate to cities and live in cardboard boxes. There is no small piece of land they can take and call their own. All the land is taken, and they have no wealth to buy some. Nowadays you cannot set out with a piece of bread and cheese to seek your fortune.

But maybe one day it will be possble again. An empty planet, a blank canvas to dream upon, frontiers to explore, room to breathe.

Men need challenge, a space to be, independence, freedom. The most they have now is the sanctum of a garden shed. Alpha Centauri? Bring it on.