Common Sense

I have often heard people say that all we need is “common sense” to live happy and productive lives and to solve the many problems that we are currently confronting in our world. If the notion of using our common sense as the solution were true, then why don’t we use it to our greater collective satisfaction? The simplest answer is because we are and life is more complex than such notions seem to realize. Common sense implies a matter-of-fact attitude that it is something that all people possess and agree upon. This attitude is its own form of naivety and assumption. Each person has their own perspectives based on their unique perceptions. These are influenced by our environment and our genetics, to be sure. Language and culture produce a wide range of perspectives, attitudes, beliefs, mores, and values and so on. Circumstance is another factor and then there is scope of vision, quality of awareness, variation of character, sense of duty and responsibility in relation to other roles, refinement of spirit, wisdom, level of concern and compassion for others in general.  There is the question of psychological balance and state. Since Astrology is a natural psychology,   I will use this article to focus on the limitations of common sense thinking and to the subtleties and complexities that Astrology offers regarding not only our psychology, but the spiritual reality upon which nature itself and human nature is founded.

The error inherent in the notion of “common sense” thinking is that it assumes that we are seeing reality as ‘it is’ verses seeing it as ‘we are’. In other words, the very notion of common sense as something that all people possess, in even relatively equal measure, indicates a lack of appreciation of human psychology. Enter a debate or a discussion about how to achieve something or solve a problem or attend a city council meeting. In doing so and paying attention it is soon discovered that there is seldom any total consensus on what constitutes common sense or good sense and sometimes even any sense as emotions rise to the surface and sense reasoning declines. Why and how people perceive things differently, and they do, can lead one into many areas of study. Which aspect of life holds the greatest weight is debatable, yet individual perception must rank highly.

Common sense thinking also leads people to the assumption that they actually know who they are. This ‘knowing’ implies a sort of conclusion. It also reflects that there is no mystery. Of course, people have a sense of what they like and with what situations and norms they feel comfortable, familiar and secure. However, given new circumstances, situations and challenges, this sense of self may quickly undergo change. After many years of self enquiry using many systems designed to shed light and offer insight on character, I continue to discover new angles. Asserting that we know who we are can often prove to be the first block to seeing one’s self the world in general and others in new and different ways. The same goes for new modes of self-expression or breaking free of limiting habit patterns of any kind. This assumptive attitude also often crosses over into then projecting the same ‘knowing’ on to others. We might assume because we once knew someone, they we must still know them; so much for exploring one another’s mystery. Attached to this common sense assumption is taking one’s self and perception of self, others and life in general for granted. In his popular books, The Power of Now, Eckart Tolle makes sincere efforts to awaken people to this habitual state so that they may become conscious of it and so break free of it. This is partially what good Astrology  offers as well.

As we look closer into human psychology, we discover that there is a rather wide range of factors that determine what influences a persons’ reasoning. In other words, when it comes to common sense, the closer we look that more we quickly learn that there is actually little agreement about what constitutes common sense. It is as though the term implies that there is this sixth sense that is common. It is more accurately called intuition. But the term common sense seems to be more materialistic that what intuition implies. Other species may instinctively share common sense reasoning, but that is actually instinct. Humans possess something significantly other and it is called free will and implied in it is intuition which should be recognized to be something significantly different than instinct. It might even be seen to be its polar opposite. It is as though human beings, Homo sapiens if you like, is a synthesis of the entire animal kingdom and therefore can no longer rely upon the reductionistic assumptions of a notion of common sense that belongs more under the heading of instinct. Inherent in this is the need to look closer at the human brain, at the realities of consciousness and where it emerges from and to human psychology.

Humanity is now and has long been looking at these factors and they are showing us that as similar as we are genetically, we do not share in nearly as equal a measure what we consider important. In this respect, even the subtleties of genetics might be considered both crude and limiting when it comes to weighing and measuring consciousness. As frustrating as this is, it is the way it is and the reason for it is to be found lodged deeply and securely in our spiritual nature or the inherent spirituality in nature. Implied in this statement is the notion of evolution. Not solely biological evolution, which people too often tend to assume is what evolution is, but to the evolution of consciousness. This evolutionary process, it does seem, occurs on both individual and collective levels. This interpretation of consciousness leads us in a different direction than genes; it takes us to a more mystical place, to a spiritual science. This significantly includes what is Astrology. Astrology is already a working science so all one needs to do is to study Astrology and come to work with it to quickly learn about the many nuances that exist behind and within human nature.

At worse, common sense reductionism might view all those who don’t agree with someone else’s conclusion about what constitutes common sense, as either unintelligent and confused or unbalanced or sick or generally wrong somehow. As a consequence, we might begin to go about trying to fix such people, at worst, or to heal these people. Even though healing may sound benevolent, we must first be sure that it is even required. We might want them to fit into our concepts and notions of what constitutes common sense. If we do not we may find ourselves performing ‘healings’ so that those who do not fit into our common sense notions, can do so. This is the basis of brain wash, genetic manipulations and all sorts of possible coercions. From this it may be said that thinking in terms of common sense is not only short-sighted in light of what a human being is, it is itself dangerous. For if we conclude that a certain attitude and perspective is the final result of common sense thinking, and then we may quickly turn upon all those who do not agree. In other words, it is the very notion of a common sense agreement that represents the assumptions of bias and prejudice that may be said contributed to have contributed to many of the crimes against humanity that fill our history books.

As simple as common sense appears, it is actually a term that deceptively implies a box. This ‘box’ further implies narrow thinking and may well be the type of good intention that leads to hell. For example, the industrialist who works for some conglomerate and who is assigned the task of creating farmland out of a rainforest, may do so from the standpoint of common sense attitudes, principles and approaches. The environmentalist concerned about the rainforest, on the other hand will argue that there is no common sense in such an act at all. The industrialist may counter that according to the realities of the world and economy, what he/she is doing is practical and makes sense. The environmentalist is then challenged to accept that they are part of a larger economic reality, yet may not wish to do so. We may vote for the environmentalist as a caring individual, on one hand, yet may conclude that he/she is more an idealist than a realist on the other. So, the debate goes on and little, if any real progress is made. If on the other hand, we look to the action of cutting down rainforests, which are crucial to the quality of fresh air on our planet, not merely as an action that does not suggest our notion of common sense; if instead we look to it as form of insanity, then we might approach the matter in a more accurate way. In other words, common sense thinking implies a form of politic. The interpretation that a certain action might actually be considered insane awakens us to a psychological perspective and not merely a political one. In other words, politics is often exercised with ‘might’ over ‘right’ and the corruptions of manipulative actions by hidden ambitions. The political approach has its place and can certainly be part of the solution. Yet, when we look at actions as insane we come to not only a psychological perspective but also to a spiritual perspective.

The root of psychology is the Latin term ‘psyche’ which means soul. Any method of psychology, therefore, that does not consider the nature and reality of the soul should better be placed in a category of material brain function. In fact, this is precisely the attitude of many so-called experts who aim to heal patients suffering from psychological imbalances by way of drug designed to manipulate symptoms and mask the causes. Of course, it makes common sense to administer the drugs for the sake of the welfare of the individual and the larger society, as a short term measure. Unfortunately, common sense is not the answer due to the complexities of human nature and psychology. By extension, appreciation of our inherent spiritual nature and of the inherent spirituality in nature is required to solve the challenges of our times. Astrology does both.

What wisdom would offer is that we endeavor to understand people by looking to their uniqueness, their individuality. To do this in a whole sense, we are required to approach each person not simply as a personality with a body and a range of natural needs concerns and desires, as valid as this perspective is initially. What we need to do is approach each person on the basis that they are a soul incarnate. I did not say that they possess a soul. I said they ‘are a soul’. I generally suspect that many, who look to life and aim to fit it into a common sense box, do not endeavor to look deeper into the nature of soul. Astrology is very much the science of the soul. On the basis of the holism or the holistic science,   if you like, that Astrology rests, is a deeper consideration of who and what we as humans are and therefore deepens our perspectives. The deeper reaches of what Astrology measurably recognizes are that the entire universe is conscious. As we begin to look closer at this fact, we begin to gain a deeper appreciation of the inherent soul and spirituality that life is. With this appreciation we come into contact with laws that create a bridge between the material and the spiritual. Woven within this rich fabric is an awakening, or a re-awakening, a realization that life is inherently conscious. From here we can begin to gain new understandings of why people think and behave the way they do. This endeavor has begun and is in fact ancient. However, mainstream society has either forgotten or been distracted by voices, opinions and attitudes whose interests do not include deeper considerations of the meaning and purpose of life. In the widest angle we are meant to be, as we are created in the image of ‘God’ to be conscious, loving, creative, intelligent and purposeful. In as much as these principles are operative. On the basis of appreciating that this is what life is and how it actually expresses ‘itself’, as reflected in the creation, we then can realign our selves with a mutual appreciation of realization that transcends the materialistic and potentially narrow conclusions of common sense.

Perhaps in time as humanity collectively evolves in consciousness will we be able to rely on the notion of common sense. For now, we are far removed from such an agreement and we are therefore challenged to turn our attention to a deeper consideration of the variations of human nature, human psychology and the spiritual basis of both. Interestingly, the answers to both and/or the evidence are to be in nature.