Articles
Cosmic Cybernetic Influences on the Development of Culture
A Post-Freudian Perspective

Copyright © 2008 All Rights Reserved

by David Cochrane

Freud's Psychoanalytic Theories

Freud's psychoanalytic theories provide us a way to clearly understand how a large part of our minds operate unconsciously and yet affect our lives. From Freudian slips and the various ways in which we project and repress unconscious material, Freud provides us a clear and direct way to understand how the interface of the unconscious and conscious minds is a battleground fought with our needs, memories, and conscience clamoring to defend and assert themselves. Freud assiduously tested his ideas and he successfully applied them to better understand and heal his clients of a wide range of problems. Although Freud has been criticized for his emphasis on sexuality, his theory of the Oedipus complex, etc., his contribution to our understanding of the basic dynamics of the human psyche is extraordinarily important.

Our understanding of the human psyche and human motivation has continued to be enhanced by many other psychologists. Many of these psychologists have broadened our understanding of the human pyche by emphasizing the universal imagery, stories, and myths that dwell in human consciousness, the hierarchy of needs, and other paradigms for understanding how the human mind and emotions work.

Culture and Collective Behavior

The theories of Freud and other psychologists have been applied to understanding the development of culture, civilization, and group dynamics, as well as the development of an individual's psyche, relationships, and overall mental and emotional development. Although we can posit higher needs for beauty, justice, and truth can help us imagine how culture and civilization develop, and we can also imagine how universal archetypes manifest in various myths, religious beliefs, and cultural institutions, we will find in the description of cosmic cybernetic influences a more comprehensive, clear, and precise formulation of how and why culture develops and evolves.

First, however, let us review some of the insights of Freud regarding the development of human culture. Freud states that "...every civilization rests on a compulsion to work and a renunciation of instinct..."1 Freud repeats this theme, stating, for example, "the hostility to civilization which is produced by the pressure that civilization exercises, the renunciations of instinct which it demands."2 The immense benefits that culture brings are gained at the price of renouncing our instincts. Culture survives through a tense and delicate balance of renounced instinctual needs and the benefits gained through the renunciations. A process or internalizing these renunciations does help us develop to become more sophisticated and capable human beings. Progress is made through a delicate process of sublimation, and one might even say transformation as we collectively refine our brutish natures and needs in service of a more sophisticated and refined development.

One can feel in Freud's writings the strong emphasis on biological foundations of human existence and a philosophy shaped by Darwin and other 19th century and early 20th century scientists. The human animal is evolving from its primitive past to a more evolved future through a process that is still driven by needs and instinctual drives from our earlier developmental states.

As mentioned earlier, other psychologists have introduced other dynamics to supplement Freud's view, but I do not think that any of these later developments explain in any detail how it is that human beings are driven to develop sophisticated and elegant cultures. The cosmic cybernetic theory of cultural development that I present in this paper fills this gap by providing a theory of cultural development that can be tested empirically with both qualitative and quantitative research designs. I refer to the cosmic cybernetic theory of cultural development as post-Freudian because I see many of the later psychological paradigms as variations and expansions on a Freudian model, even when they eschew Freudian theory or wish to distinguish themselves from the Freudian perspective, or as introducing new concepts that are difficult to assess the validity of. One of the great advances of Freud's psychoanalysis is that it provides tools for solving problems, such as finding the causes and cures for hysterical behavior. Similarly, cosmic cybernetics provides tools to understand solve problems related to individual as well as collective behavior.

The issues that Freud addresses appear to me to be valid and useful. Like many other psychologists, I am introducing additional factors that are not included in the Freudian system. What distinguishes cosmic cybernetic theory is that it is a more radical departure from the Freudian paradigm, and cosmic cybernetic theory, like Freudian theory, is testable and can be applied in practical ways. Almost nothing in cosmic cybernetic theory contradicts the insights of Freud or other psychologists. Cosmic cybernetics does place other psychological theories and paradigms in a very different perspective.

The Cosmic Cybernetic View of the Human Condition

Every psychological model has a fundamental paradigm, whether that paradigm is a psyche consisting of the ego, id, and superego, or whether it is a morphology of the psyche that elaborates the various mythic dimensions and archetypes contained within the psyche, or any of the other paradigms of human consciousness. Many of these psychological models are not mutually exclusive, and we can embrace a view of human consciousness that includes features of Freud, Jung, Adler, Maslow, etc. It would seem to me that anyone who reads the works of the psychologists I just mentioned with an open mind would be introduced to new useful, helpful, and valid ideas. The view of the human being from the standpoint of cosmic cybernetics, without contradicting most of the ideas presented by these important psychologists, is that the human mind is a receiver similar to a radio or television that detects certain frequencies and responds to them.

For example, consider a person "Jim". As an infant Jim is kicking his legs and screaming, and his parents change his diapers. Jim seems to have little capacity for abstract thought or for a very wide range of emotions. Now let's fast-forward 40 years and we see Jim solving math problems, or playing Beethoven on the piano, or acting a part in a Shakespearean drama. Jim is still the same person but he is physically not recognizable from the way he looked as an infant, and his emotional and mental states are radically different as well. Now let us imagine that Jim undergoes hormone treatments and begins to grow breasts, and perhaps Jim has also been castrated. Jim is now much more feminine, so what is it in Jim through all these changes from infancy to adulthood, with changes in hormones, physical nature, and the changes in thoughts and feelings makes this being at age 50 years and at age 1 year (or even 1 day) the same Jim through all these changes?

What remains constant in Jim's psyche is arguably none of his motivations, desires, thoughts, or feelings. What is consistent is that the same "radio receiver" is operating. Jim is the receiver or channel of these various thoughts and feelings. Note that we do not know where thought comes from. Is thought emanated from brain cells in a similar way to the way that smoke is generated by a fire? Do hormones create emotions or do they change the nature of the emotions? I am suggesting that it is more helpful and useful for psychological analysis and the understanding of the human condition to think of thoughts and feelings as existing in some "thought world" or "feeling world" distinct from our brains and our hormones and that thoughts and feelings may or may not occupy physical space. Human beings and many other animals are capable of receiving mental and emotional signals.

A musical instrument creates sound when moving air moves through it, or the strings are plucked, etc. The musical instrument is not a unique item capable of producing sound. Sound is the result of matter vibrating and interpreted by our ears and minds as sound. An even better analogy is the radio or television that receives and interprets electromagnetic radiation and produces images and/or sounds. Our brain receives and interprets thoughts and feelings but does not generate them. Combined with our will or volition we may creatively generate new thoughts and feelings from the signals we receive.

When we try to reify or objectify who we are, it becomes very difficult to imagine what this object or "thing" is that is at the center of human consciousness. When we are introspective, what is it that we are looking at? If someone asks me if I am a happy person, or if I have a melancholic disposition, how is that I look inside to answer this question. If I take a personality inventory and I am asked a number of other questions regarding my nature, how do I identify the correct answer. I believe that what I do is I remember my most common mental and emotional states and based on this quick inventory of my memory, I select an appropriate response. For example, if I asked if I am religious, I think of the fact that I go to church on Sundays, that I am a firm believer in my faith, that I have deep feelings of peace and contentment when I pray, and I answer "Yes" to the question about whether I am religious. On a Likert scale with 5 levels I am likely to select "very religious". I do not actually see or sense some object or thing inside myself. I do not do this because there is no object or thing inside myself. I am a consciousness that "picks up frequencies" of thought and feeling, so to speak. I can also become identified or feel at one with the thoughts and feelings. I can become so in tune with the process of playing tennis that I embody the essence of tennis, with a swift and deft backhand swing, etc. I can immerse myself in playing a musical instrument and be taken away with the music. In these cases, I have synchronized my thoughts and feelings with the energies and frequencies that I have chosen to synchronize with.

Cosmic cybernetics is not the only philosophical paradigm that embraces this view of the human condition, nor is it the first philosophy or psychology to embrace this view. Also, as mentioned above, this view of the human mind and emotions does not contradict Freudian theory. Note that, as Freud pointed out, I can have an awareness that is not registered consciously. I can have memories that are deeply imprinted and can be repressed. Freudian theory and most other psychological theories are compatible with the view of human consciousness proposed by cosmic cybernetics. This view of the human psyche simply provides a different perspective on the essential nature of what the human psyche is, and places the other theories within the context of this overall paradigm and perspective on the human condition.

One of the innovations and discoveries of cosmic cybernetics is that an understanding of many of the frequencies which the human psyche responds to have been identified and articulated. Cosmic cybernetics is not just a philosophy or abstract idea. Cosmic cybernetics is an emerging new science with measurable results and practical applications. A physical basis for the transmission of these frequencies has been identified. This feature of cosmic cybernetics is also perhaps the most controversial and radical of its features.

A physical basis of these frequencies (there may be others that are as yet unidentified) is in celestial cyclic processes. The human brain is capable of responding to the frequencies established through the arrangement of relatively dense matter. In other words, planetary positions and other celestial behavior regulate the way in which our human minds think and feel by establishing frequencies that our mental and emotional antenna respond to. In affecting our thoughts and feelings, our personalities and behaviors are also indirectly affected through the medium of our thoughts and feelings as well.

The Eclipsing of Astrology by Cosmic Cybernetics

The idea that planetary positions and other celestial events correlate with human personality and behavior is a tenant of astrology. According to historians, astrology as we know it was born several centuries before the Christian era in a hybridization of Hellenistic rational analysis and Babylonian omenology. Astrology persisted with ups and downs in virtually all civilizations and continues today, despite the fact that there are no clearly conclusive and replicable studies that support the idea of astrology and despite the fact that Gallup polls and other studies show that the majority of people, especially educated people, regard astrology as a pseudoscience.3

In the 20th century there were a number of innovations in astrological thinking, and some of these innovations identified a new set of celestial variables that have a more consistent mathematical foundation than the ancient astrological rules. Among these innovations are the theories of cosmbiology by Reinhold Ebertin and harmonic astrology by John Addey. These innovations are very different from the ancient astrological theories and do not involve the use of the popular zodiac signs or the use of astrological houses, rulerships, and most other ancient astrological concepts. Instead, an elegant mathematical model is used for determining patterns. Over the past 30 years the author has worked extensively with these alternative systems and recent research shows promise that these celestial events can be correlated with various kinds of behavior in repeatable experimental studies.

This new discipline is referred to by the author as cosmic cybernetics rather than astrology because (a) the concepts used are very different from the vast majority of concepts used in the ancient field of astrology, and (b) unlike traditional astrological ideas, cosmic cybernetic ideas show great promise of being validated through research. Based on the body of astrological research to date and on a massive amount of personal anecdotal evidence, the author doubts that the traditional astrological systems are capable of being objectively validated. Recent studies in cosmic cybernetics, on the other hand, show great promise of being replicable and of gradually evolving into a large body of scientific literature with many practical applications. Many astrologers may disagree with my view, but nevertheless the fact that astrological theory has yet to be verified with replicable research results should be sufficient reason to distinguish any new research that does confirm that celestial influences have a direct impact on human personality, thoughts, feelings, and behavior. To distinguish the ideas which have show great promise of being validated through research from the mass of unsupported and sometimes superstitious beliefs, the term cosmic cybernetics is used to identify the more scientific areas of study. A brief review of some studies in cosmic cybernetics is given later in this paper.

Astrology is likely to continue to be pursued by people even though astrology is not supported through scientific research. Astrology may have meaning, significance, and relevance of a non-scientific kind. There are many astrologers who support this point of view. For example, the book The Moment of Astrology by Geoffrey Cornelius is an exhaustive account of the status of astrology throughout history, and a very strong case is made for astrology functioning more as a divinatory practice with a non-scientific validity and importance. This may be true, but the value of astrology is then much more ephemeral than that of cosmic cybernetics. As we shall see below, cosmic cybernetics is not only compatible with the scientific paradigm, it also offers very real new philosophical perspectives that have direct bearing on psychology and attitudes and appreciation of culture and social phenomena. Cosmic cybernetics is directly relevant and applicable to the problems, issues, and situations that social scientists, historians, anthropologists, and even physicists grapple with. For the most part, astrology does not address these issues in a manner conducive to academic inquiry because it remains an ocean of anecdotal evidence without a clear foundation or set of principles. Cosmic cybernetics supercedes astrology and forces astrology into the background. Astrology may not disappear but it is overshadowed by the more comprehensive, scientific, and relevant methods and applications of cosmic cybernetics.

If traditional astrological principles become scientifically validated, then cosmic cybernetics will absorb into itself ideas that lack the mathematical elegance of current cosmic cybernetic theory. In other words cosmic cybernetics would then include ideas and concepts from the ancient astrological tradition which do not have as clear and direct relationship to modern physics and mathematics as cosmic cybernetics does. For the present, however, cosmic cybernetics consists only of ideas with a more formal and elegant mathematical model than traditional astrological ideas have.

The Absurdity of the Cosmic Cybernetic Premise

The idea that celestial phenomena regulate our thoughts and feelings can arouse the wrath and indignation of scientists. From the signing of a document that denounces astrology by 186 leading scientists in the 19755 to the Gallup Poll and other studies that show that the vast majority of highly educated people regard astrology as lacking any validity, introducing a concept that has some overlap with astrological principles may be very unwelcome to many members of the academic community. The premise of cosmic cybernetics seems absurd and it has roots in ancient superstitions and failed protosciences.

However, apparent absurdity is not sufficient grounds to dismiss a theory. The heliocentric view was slow to gain acceptance partly because it is absurd. Obviously the sky is circling around us and if the Earth is moving, how is that when I throw something up in the air, it returns back to the same spot while the Earth moves? Some implications of the geocentric model of our solar system were absurd at the time that the geocentric and heliocentric models were being debated. Many implications of quantum theory and relativity theory are absurd, and we do not need to summarize them here because most readers are no doubt familiar with some of these absurdities. To give just one example: if one moves fast enough, i.e. close to the speed of light, then time slows down and one could dramatically stop one's own aging process by simply getting a ride in an aircraft capable of these speeds. Although it is obvious that time and space are independent of each other and speed of motion does not affect time, this obvious notion is, in fact, false according to the theories of modern physics.

Very often science progresses by discovering a formula or fact and then eventually developing theories that better explain this fact. When Kepler discovered the 3 laws of motion, it was not clear why these formula work, but later the work of Newton, Einstein, and others helped elaborate a larger theoretical system in which Kepler's laws of motion could be understood in a larger context.

Absurdity and science are not mutually exclusive, as evidenced by quantum theory and the theory of relativity. However, science does not exist without replicable observations, and the real test of cosmic cybernetics lies in scientific testing of its claims.

The Precedence Set by Hans Eysenck

The highly celebrated 20th century psychologist Hans Eysenck provides an example of an intelligent and effective way for addressing the claims of cosmic cybernetics.

Eysenck tested the claims of astrology and reported his results in the book Astrology, Science or Superstition.6 Eysenck conducted research with astrologer Jeff Mayo that produced positive results for a correlation of Sun signs with an extroversion-introversion scale. At first Eysenck felt that strong support for astrology had been obtained, but further research demonstrated that the effect was due to self-attribution; when people know their Sun signs, they tend to believe that they have the traits of those signs. When the effects of self-attribution are removed, there is no correlation of the personality trait with Sun signs.

However, Eysenck studied the astrological research of Michel Gauquelin and concluded that Gauquelin's research was sound and that there are some astrological influences that do affect human behavior. The psychologist Suibert Ertel also came to the same conclusion. However, the Gauquelin research is highly controversial and is disputed by other scientists, and cannot be considered indisputable validation of astrology.

Eysenck's view is simple: astrology is testable and it should be tested! Eysenck selected those astrological ideas which seemed to off the most promise of being validated and he tested them. With the recent advancements of cosmic cybernetics, we should test the validity of these ideas. Even negative results could provide a very valuable social benefit; once and for all, the tenets of astrology can be shown to lack of objective validity. This positive effect of the research has already been evident. The failure of traditional astrological ideas, such as zodiac signs, to be validated through research, even has many astrologers now believing that astrology is a discipline incapable of scientific validation. Those offshoots of astrological theory, such as cosmic cybernetics, also need to be tested, and if the results of further research produces only negative results, this will help us to see that even cosmic cybernetics lacks objective validity, If, as I suspect, some cosmic cybernetics research obtains replicable positive results, then a very powerful new technology with many practical applications is forged, and the benefits are likely to be enormous.

The Scientific Evidence in Support of Cosmic Cybernetics

Using a very small subset of astrological theories that are much more mathematical than traditional astrological ideas, the author and other researchers have developed pilot studies and exploratory research with very promising results. Conducting this research without funds and with very limited resources on weekends and evenings, this research has found positive results that suggest that more elaborate and controlled research is needed to determine whether hypotheses based on cosmic cybernetic theories can be validated. Hans Eysenck pointed out that astrological theories are testable and verifiable. The worst case scenario is that the theories of astrology and cosmic cybernetics would fail to be supported by research and this would confirm what the skeptics have long believed: that astrology, and even cosmic cybernetics, are fallacious. With an enormous amount of time and money invested annually in astrological services, this finding would give the support needed to control the growth of astrology. Just as research into cigarette smoking has determined that smoking does raise one's susceptibility to lung cancer and other diseases and consequently prohibition of smoking in some public places, warning labels, and improved advice from physicians to their patients have been possible, so would negative results in astrological research help control an expensive and misguided interest of a large segment of the population.

However, I believe that although research into Sun signs and other traditional astrological ideas has failed to produce replicable results, , my experience and involvement with cosmic cybernetics makes me much more optimistic that an extraordinary new technology is about to be born as we pursue research into this area. Let's briffly review some of the research that causes me to have this rosy view of the future of cosmic cybernetics.

Michel Gauquelin collected thousands of chart data of distinguished professionals. He obtained the birth data from the birth registry in France so the data is directly from birth records. Gauquelin obtained the names of distinguished althletes, politicians, scientists, artists, and others from books like "Who's Who" and other reference books that provide biographies of exceptional people. Gauquelin obtained the birth data of thousands of these exceptional data, and he analyzed planetary positions at the time they were born to see if there were celestial configurations that occurred more often at the time that these people were born.

Gauquelin found that the planet Mars occurred slightly above the eastern horizon, below the western horizon, slightly west of the meridian plane above the horizon (slightly west of the celestial MC) and slightly east of the meridian plane below the horizon (slightly west of the celestial IC) more often in the birth chars of athletes than can be expected by chance. The effect was small but statistically significant with a large group (a few thousand) of athletes. Gauquelin found other planets placed in these areas of the sky for other professions. However, Gauquelin's research has been hotly debated, and some scientists have found flaws and confounding variables that they believe causes the research results to be spurious.

Gauquelin's research is based on a simple measurement of planetary positions in their diurnal motion through the sky. I have applied the concepts of cosmic tapestry to astrological research to obtain what I believe is much more promising results than were obtained by Gauquelin.

In one research project I obtained the Gauquelin database of charts, i.e. the birth data that Gauquelin used in his studies, and I analyzed the charts to see if basic harmonic patterns existed in the data that can distinguish between four different professional groups. By analyzing various harmonic patterns in the data I found that the following harmonic aspects occurred frequently in the four professional groups studied:

Scientists: Sun-Sat, Mer-Sat, and Mar-Sat in harmonics 14 or 28
Painters: Sun-Sat, Moo-Sat, Ven-Sat, and Mar-Sat in harmonics 10, 20 or 40
Musicians: Sun-Sat, Ven-Sat, Jup-Sat, Sun-Nep, and Ven-Nep in harmonics 11, 22, and 44
Actors: Sun-Sat, Ven-Sat, Jup-Sat and Sun-Nep in harmonics 17 or 34

In other words, Sun and Saturn tended to be in 14th or 28th harmonic in the charts of scientists, in 10th, 20th, or 40th harmonic in the charts of painters, in 11th, 22nd, and 44th harmonic in the charts of musicians, and in 17th or 34th harmonic in the charts of actors. A harmonic in this context can be viewed as simply a fraction of the circle. A fraction of 1/10 of a circle is 36 degrees, 2/10 is 72 degrees, 3/10 is 108 degrees, etc. At the time that painters were born, Sun and Saturn tended to be separated by these angular distances more often than these angular distances occurred between Sun and Saturn at the times that scientists, musicians, and actors were born.

The possibility that such correlations could exist may seem absurd, but the idea that I can watch moving pictures in a box filled with metal and plastic (television) or talk to you from half way around the world through a series of wires and other mechanisms (telephone) is equally absurd. If televisions and telephones did not exist, then certainly the belief that they could exist would be considered the ravings of an overactive imagination. We should not discount cosmic cybernetics because of the seeming absurdity of the relationships proposed.

Using the observations listed above, a formula for combining all of these factors was created; this formula is known as an AstroSignature. Using computer software, a t-test was used to analyze the differences in the AstroSignature scores for the 4 professional groups and the AstroSignatures were able to distinguish the professional groups from each with a statistical significance ranging from .01 to .05. For details of the research study, you can read a detailed description of the study at this website address: AstroSignatures in the Gauquelin Data Revealed

If one searches through data randomly for factors that correlate with a particular sample group, one can find them. The AstroSignatures created, however, were not randomly selected bur rather are based on expectations developed from previous research and a massive amount of anecdotal evidence. The AstroSignatures are simple and uniform and do not involve "cherry picking" specific influences that are not consistent with the model created. For these reasons, the findings are very promising. A next step of specifying a very unambiguous and clear null hypothesis and replicating the study would be a further step that can be taken in the future to continue progress in determining to what extent cosmic cybernetic theory can be validated scientifically.

Using similar cosmic cybernetic theories a pilot study on mathematicians found statistically significant results (Towards a Proof of Astrology, An AstroSignature for Mathematical Ability), and a study of gold prices obtained cosmic cybernetic correlations with short term gold prices (The Gold Forecast Report).

A thorough review of this research would be very long and the websites cited above can be referred to for those interested in analyzing the research findings. Note that the research results do not yet provide firm support for cosmic cybernetics. The research provides very promising results, and further research is needed. Scientific research typically is a slow process and therefore an expensive process. Because research in cosmic cybernetics typically is undertaken by individuals in their spare time without public support, and because there are very few people engaged in this research, progress in the research is much slower than it otherwise would be.

Planet Mandalas and a New Kind of Science

Another intriguing discovery of cosmic cybernetic research is the extraordinary patterns that planets create through their orbits around the Sun. These beautiful patterns have been largely overlooked by astronomers and yet they are an intriguing fact of life. At this time these patterns remain a mysterious phenomenon that has not yet been associated with terrestrial behavior, but I present this information now because it reveals the cutting edge innovations that are underway in cosmic cybernetic research, and there are obvious and striking relationships of these findings to recent developments in physics.

As the planets orbit the Sun in elliptical paths, we can also draw their orbits as seen from the Earth's point of view. Doing this makes sense because as we live on Earth we experience a kind of optical illusion that gives the appearance of the planets and other celestial objects rotating around us instead of rotating around the Sun. This illusion is so strong that it was not until the 17th century that the heliocentric model of our solar system was demonstrated to be the accurate model and the geocentric model is incorrect.

In Kepler's monumental work Astronomia Nova (The New Astronomy) in 1609 Kepler described his intensive work that gradually resulted in his discovery of the elliptical orbits of planes the laws of planetary motion. In this book he also has a drawing of the orbit of Mars from the Earth's point of view.

Here is the diagram from Kepler's book:


Shown below is a diagram of the geocentric orbital path of Mars produced with modern computer software called Sirius:


As you can see, Kepler's image is extremely accurate. Note that these diagrams show the actual path of Mars as seen geocentrically. When Mars is opposition the Sun it is physically much closer to Earth than when Mars is conjunct the Sun. By holding the Earth stationary and plotting the motion of Mars we obtain the diagram shown above. Even more intriguing is the path of Venus, which produces a more symmetrical and easily identifiable 5-petaled shape.

The diagram shown below is the path of Venus and the changes in color reflect the position of Venus in the 3rd dimension of space, i.e. how far Venus has moved up or down by a relatively small amount within the approximate plane of its orbit.


By plotting the daily positions of two planets over a period of time from a few months to many years, and drawing a line to connect the daily positions, very intriguing shapes are produced.

The one shown below is the paths of Mercury and Venus starting on January 1, 1900 and continuing for 400 days. Again, the colors indicate the positions in the third dimension, the z value of the rectangular coordinates of the planets.


The shape may look like a very clever drawing of a bird with feathery scrolls, and overall very delicate and elegant composition reminding us of perhaps a modern Japanese style, but in fact the image is simply the positions of Mercury and Venus plotted for 400 days!

There are many hundreds of intriguing and fascinating shapes with a wide variety of visual effects that can be shown, but our main topic for this paper is how cosmic cybernetics can explain how culture develops, and we will not labor further on the details of these fascinating images. These images are known as planet mandalas. Also, fascinating is to watch the images being drawn in a kind of time-lapse speeded up presentation of planetary motions. There is one image that is referred to in the software used to produce these images (Sirius software, which is described at www.AstroSoftware.com) as Shiva dance because the image looks to some pople like a rotating and dancing ancient mythical creature or goddess.

Planet mandalas may simply be a curious phenomenon with no practical value or applications other than perhaps to engender aesthetic and artistic appreciation for the viewers of these images. However, there is a powerful new movement in physics that has an interesting parallel with the recent discovery of planet mandalas: the new kind of physics of Stephen Wolfram.

Stephen Wolfram's book, A New Kind of Science, introduces a new perspective on how many natural functions and processes operate. Wolfram speaks with considerable authority. His achievements, honors, and his precocious discoveries in physics are simply extraordinary. Central to Wolfram's thesis is that simple iterative (repetitive processes that loop back with results from the previous calculation) processes produce surprisingly complex results, and these complex results are evident in some of the complex forms and functions that we experience in our lives, whether these manifest in areas of biology, economics, art, or physics.

Wolfram points out that previous to his work, one expected the explanation for a complex system to be very complex as well, but simple iterative processes produce forms that are surprisingly complex. The complex forms produced by a simple iterative process cannot always be predicted. One must simply run the iterative process on a computer and see the results. Even to a genius in the field of mathematics and physics such as Wolfram is often startled by the resulting patterns produced by iterative processes.

While reading the book A New Kind of Science, I repeatedly wondered how and where the iterative processes that Wolfram supposes generate complex systems exist. Cell division and growth patterns are possibilities. One relatively unexplored "generator" or "engine" that involves an iterative process are the motions of planets. Planets travel on their paths in a seemingly endless cycles and arrange themselves in various configurations, as noted by astrologers throughout the ages. Although astrology has failed thus far to produce any scientifically verifiable results and even some astrologers see astrological processes as existing outside the realm of science, it is possible that there is some unnoticed relationship between planetary positions and terrestrial behavior because the mechanism through which this relationship operates may lie largely outside the domain of both astrologers and scientists.

Stephen Wolfram's work involves discrete automata and planet mandalas involve the analysis of elliptical orbits. The two processes are different but similar in many respects. Both processes are simple and both are processes are iterative. In both cases complex and beautiful patterns are produced. Many times in history parallel or similar discoveries are made at similar times. We can note the discovery of calculus by Leibniz and Newton around the same time, etc. and many other examples. It is possible that the new work on planet mandalas by Mark Pottenger and myself simultaneously with Wolfram's discovery of a new kind of science, demonstrate similar principles at work.

After reading Wolfram's book in the summer of 2007, I immediately set to work programming planet mandalas. I emailed Mark Pottenger, who sent me very helpful detailed technical information on how he generates the planet mandalas. I was sometimes almost shocked and stunned by the resulting complex and beautiful images. At times I felt riveted by a compelling and powerful fascination with a world that seemed to be appearing before me. I felt as if what I was seeing was a small echo emanating from the momentous discovery of Kepler and a bridge was being built between Wolfram's work and Kepler's most extraordinary discovery of laws of planetary motion. Poetic fantasy? Wishful thinking? Egotism? Future research and analysis may let us know if planet mandalas shall remain an intriguing bit of artwork only, or also be a stepping stone towards a more comprehensive understanding of our world. Scientific understanding and inquiry is not only an exploration into what we know, but also of what we do not know. Planet mandalas do not need to provide a direct mechanism for the evolutionary development of life forms on earth or to provide any other significance other than their own fascinating beauty to be important.

However, the development of scientific support for cosmic cybernetics in the studies described earlier in this paper, the introduction of the new kind of physics of Stephen Wolfram, and the rediscovery of planet mandalas and the recent new developments in the depiction of planet mandalas simultaneously may indicate a synergistic movement towards a new understanding of the human being as being enmeshed in a cosmic environment that is directly relevant and important to the human condition, and specifically affects the way in which a person thinks and feels.

Searching for Answers in Physics

There is a relationship between physics and cosmic cybernetics but the relationship has not yet been clearly articulated. In cosmic cybernetics we view planetary positions as being points at the peak of waves as if planetary positions are able to generate waves that are analogous, but different from, electromagnetic waves. Extrapolating the concept of wave theory to the context of planetary positions seems like a very big jump, a jump so big as to perhaps seem ludicrous.

However, large aggregates of matter is very rare. When I refer to matter, I am referring to it in our common meaning as a solid, liquid, or gas. Most of the universe is devoid of matter, and especially large aggregates of matter such as we find in a planet or star, for example. It may seem intuitively reasonable that the "condensations" of vast amounts of energy into solids, and liquid, and gases which are separated by relatively enormous amounts of space are "special" and have some significance in establishing patterns within the space in which the planets and stars exist. I am speaking now in very general and speculative ways because there is, as far as I know, no reasonable explanation for cosmic cybernetic influences within current the theories of physics at this time. There are only analogous concepts of waves, evolution through iterative processes (as advocated by Stephen Wolfram and others), a view of the universe as an informational system, and a view of the fundamental essence of the universe as being patterns.

Consider, for example, this statement by physicist and inventor Ray Kurzweil:

Norbert Weiner heralded a fundamental change in focus from energy to information in his 1948 book Cybernetics, and suggested that the transformation of information, not energy, was the fundamental building block for the Universe.

Perhaps the most enthusiastic proponent of an information-based theory of physics was Edward Fredkin, who in the early 1980s proposed what he called a new theory of physics based on the idea that the Universe was comprised ultimately of software. We should not think of ultimate reality as particles and forces, according to Fredkin, but rather as bits of data modified according to computation rules.

If transformation of information is the fundamental building block of the Universe, then we might think that nature may be very efficient, rather than highly inefficient, and use the placement of the relatively rare planets, stars, and other celestial objects as nodes or points for transferring information. Again, we are making a very large leap from a general conceptual model, but the positive results of the research in cosmic cybernetics indicates that such a leap may not be as large as we might otherwise think that it is.

In the same article quoted above, Wolfram is discussing his views of Wolfram's book A New Kind of Science and Kurzweil articulates his own view of the essential basis of the universe, and this statement sounds even closer to cosmic cybernetics than the views of Weiner and Fredkin:

. . . My own philosophy is that of a "patternist," which one might consider appropriate for a pattern recognition scientist. In my view, the fundamental reality in the world is not stuff, but patterns.

If I ask the question, 'Who am I?' I could conclude that, perhaps I am this stuff here, i.e., the ordered and chaotic collection of molecules that comprise my body and brain.

However, the specific set of particles that comprise my body and brain are completely different from the atoms and molecules than comprised me only a short while (on the order of weeks) ago. We know that most of our cells are turned over in a matter of weeks. Even those that persist longer (e.g., neurons) nonetheless change their component molecules in a matter of weeks.

So I am a completely different set of stuff than I was a month ago. All that persists is the pattern of organization of that stuff. The pattern changes also, but slowly and in a continuum from my past self. From this perspective I am rather like the pattern that water makes in a stream as it rushes past the rocks in its path. The actual molecules (of water) change every millisecond, but the pattern persists for hours or even years.

It is patterns (e.g., people, ideas) that persist, and in my view constitute the foundation of what fundamentally exists.

Perhaps it is a bit hyperbolic to go a step further and state that energy and matter exist solely for the purpose of supporting patterns. In any case, patterns are fundamental according to Kurzweil, and it may be that nature is far more efficient, integrated, and elegant in the way that she creates, supports, and maintains patterns than we had previously thought, and that, for example, the positions of celestial objects are "used" to sustain patterns. The gorgeous planet mandalas, therefore, do not seem like coincidences that just happen to be created by celestial motions, but rather as nodes in an informational network designed to create these patterns.

At this point in time we have not identified a direct connection between the forms we see on Earth to the forms presented in the celestial phenomena. We can see feathery shapes, heart shapes, and many familiar designs that look like leaves, plants, and other familiar objects in nature, but we have not yet found a direct causal relationship and it is possible that there is no direct causal relationship between planet mandalas and the formations of the natural world on Earth.

However, there is strong evidence that there is a direct causal relationship between celestial objects and terrestrial behavior through the research summarized above as well as other research not included in the above very brief summary of research studies.

Through the work of Wolfram, Kurzweil, and others on cutting edge theory in physics, and the fundamental principles of physics that emphasize electromagnetic waves, the absurdity of some of the practical implications of quantum theory and relativity theory, we can see that cosmic cybernetics is not as foreign to modern scientific thinking as it was to the scientific thinking of 100 or 200 years ago. There is still a very large gap between the tenets of cosmic cybernetics and current theories in physics in that even the latest developments in physics do not directly imply the validity of cosmic cybernetics nor can they flawlessly incorporate cosmic cybernetics into their paradigm, but the gaps appear to be becoming small every day and if continued research in cosmic cybernetics continues to produce positive results, then, very amazingly, cosmic cybernetics may make contributions to the understanding of physics as well as to psychology, sociology, and history.

First Order and Second Order Harmonics, and the Development of Culture

From the early 1970's to the dawning of the 21st century I have worked regularly in the field of astrology and cosmic cybernetics, collecting a massive amount of anecdotal evidence which appears to indicate the validity of cosmic cybernetic theories. Around the year 2000 I conducted the research described above, and also a cosmic cybernetic theory of cultural development began to unfold.

This theory of cultural development is based on a concept of first order and second order harmonics. First order harmonics are mostly harmonics based on prime numbers or what I refer to as octaves of prime numbers. An "octave harmonic" is created by doubling a harmonic, just as halving the length of a string causes the frequency to double and the note to go up by one octave. The harmonics 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, etc. are octaves of 1 and are the basic driving forces. Octaves of 3 (3, 6, 12, 24, etc.) are more gentle, Octaves of 5 (5, 10, 20, 40) are creative and playful, octaves of 7 are introverted, quiet, abstract, and inclined to symbolism, and octaves of 9 are healing, integrating, and create a sense of wholeness. The number 9 is equal to 3 times 3 of course, and therefore is not a prime number but in cosmic cybernetics appears to behave similar to a prime number.

The various harmonics are similar to different colors, or musical notes, but perhaps the analogy to color is better because of the obviously different impact that different colors have on us. Few of us are going to paint our houses bright fire engine red, for example. There is no reason why a concept of frequencies which is valid within the context of the electromagnetic spectrum can be extrapolated to an analysis of planetary positions. We have no theory or reason to make this extrapolation, but people have deduced this by assuming that there is some nugget of truth in some astrological beliefs and unraveling what that truth might be. The astrologer John Addey is responsible for much of this advancement in knowledge and Addey developed the field of harmonic astrology12, which is a major component of cosmic cybernetics.

While octaves of 1 are a kind of fundamental yang force, octaves of 3 are a kind of fundamental yin force, and octaves of 5 are playful and creative, octaves of 7 are introverted and abstract, and octaves of 9 are healing and integrating, an octave that is a multiple of these numbers is what I call a second order harmonic and provides a more complex function built upon the fundamental and simple functions of the prime number harmonics. The first order harmonics provide key ingredients in the development of an individual, and second order harmonics are key ingredients in the development of culture and the cultural disposition of an individual.

The ideas being presented here were developed by a study of astrology, anecdotal evidence from the study of many thousands of birth charts, and seeking a coherent and more scientific model for understanding how cosmic cybernetic influences affect human behavior.

Some of the key harmonics that influence cultural development are:

35: High art and artistic sophistication. Mature and abstract creativity.

45: A sense of paradise or utopia, like angels playing harps on clouds, a Thomas Kincaid painting, or a colorful picture of Krishna playing his flute

63: The disciplining and training of children. The importance of ritual and regularity

25: Creative genius. Entertainment, very creative artistic expression, curiosity, and playfulness.

49: Great abstractions in art and science. Abstract art, mathematics and other deep, ponderous, highly abstract interests.

27 and 81: Spiritual enlightenment, going to heaven, becoming a saint, reaching perfection. Finding peace and bringing an end to war and hatred.

  • These harmonics are powerful, driving forces of the universe. They are frequencies inherent in the world we inhabit. These second order harmonics are the driving force of culture. Culture is not merely a means for survival, a way of sublimating primal needs and transforming them to something more noble and more edified. Culture is a need just as strong as primal instinctual needs.
  • Second order harmonics unfold and blossom when the more fundamental first order harmonics are being responded to and channeled effectively. When creativity and introverted discipline (harmonics 5 and 7) combine in the second order 35th harmonic, the result is high culture. A culture must, in some way, promote the idea of play and of quiet discipline in order for this cultural development to take place. When we watch with fascination a movie that takes place in Elizabethan England or almost anywhere in Europe during approximately the 18th century, where the nobility engages in elaborate parties with theatre, classical music performances, card games and chess, literature and art, all with great dignity and sophistication, we return to a time before Darwinian and Freudian thought, and the integration of lower and higher classes into a much larger middle class with equal rights for all, when an attunement to the 35th harmonic was, you might say, a highly prized attunement, and also distinguished high culture and high society from the common person.
  • The love of Mozart and Renoir is not simply an effect from the sublimation of primal instinctual needs to more refined avenues, with a consequent emphasis on the intellectual and abstract reasoning powers of the human mind. The love of Mozart and Renoir is built into the very fabric of our human condition. Our impulses, drives, and desires are not rooted only in biological processes but also in a spectrum of cosmic cybernetic frequencies that impel us to emulate the beautiful designs formed by the geocentric movements of the planets. As physicists Stephen Wolfram and Raymond Kurzweil point out, form-building is an inherent fundamental basis of physics. Planetary motions build forms and intricate patterns that humans instinctually emulate in ritualistic dances, woven into patterns of clothing, enshrined in religious mandalas, portrayed in beautiful English gardens and beautiful architecture. Something as simple as putting a brick walkway in a suburban backyard is an enactment of this form-building that results in curving patterns that reflect the gorgeous curving designs of planetary mandalas.

    When we teach children to say "thank you", to be less selfish, to practice the piano, and be aware of the social context of their lives, we are attuning the child's attention to processes that are not primal, biological urges. This instruction is not simply to force some restriction on what otherwise are rather brutish and bestial impulses of the id but rather a natural process of attuning one's consciousness to the wonder and awesome mystery of cosmic frequencies which are available to us. Human evolution is not so much about survival of the fittest and acquiring the most in order to be king of a mountain as much as it is about complementing the personal needs of a person with the much larger and grander world of awareness available to us through attunement to cosmic frequencies that inspire and elevate us.

    The fundamentals of Freudian theory are valid. The tensions that result from repressed instinctual needs and the consequent hysterical behavior, neuroses, psychoses, sublimations, and projections are processes that Freud discovered, articulated, and applied for the practical benefit of his patients. However, Freudian theory is a small subset of the issues and motivations that impact the human being.

    Similarly, biological evolution as described by Darwin is very well documented. However, resistance to Darwin's theories continues to this day because many people intuitively sense that Darwinian thinking is incomplete and a result of this incomplete theory is that it constrains and limits us to a definition of ourselves circumscribed by this biological process. It seems we are little more than the highest form of animals. As I have read on bumper stickers we come to think of ourselves as the most advanced animals and "I did not climb to the top of the food chain to eat only vegetables". Vegetarianism aside, this Darwinian view of man is limiting. People have had to seek for intangible support for an alternative through a religious or spiritual perspective that lacks any clear grounding in science in order to "supplement" Darwinian theory. With the emerging new science of cosmic cybernetics, we discover what Darwin and Freud did not know: there are processes operating outside of our biological systems that tremendously impact our human experience and who we are. These processes are the raw material that build culture, vision, and creativity.

    Virtually every culture has a distinction of high art and common or popular art. High art is more complex, more abstract, more intellectual, more ponderous, and more finely nuanced than popular art. Is this distinction simply a result of continued sublimation of primal instinctual needs until it evolves into this elegance? What propels sublimation to these lofty heights? What then is the real value of high culture when primal instinctual needs have already been sufficiently harnessed to prevent us from killing one another and engaging in sexual relationships to a point where we are all from sexually transmitted diseases? The answer is that the 35th harmonic, a fundamental frequency that our human radios attune to, a simple and direct building block from two very simple and fundamental frequencies of 5 and 7, builds culture and the desire for high culture. High culture is not simply highly evolved sublimation. High culture is an impulse of the universe through the cosmic cybernetic tapestry of frequencies in which we live.

    With the development of cosmic tapestry, Mozart and Renoir, English gardens and fine tapestries, and even Sunday afternoon classical music performances in the courtyard take on a new level of importance and significance. No longer dispensable accoutrements of the indulgently wealthy, they are the finest expressions of second order harmonics and represent the natural evolution and a means to meet some of the most fundamental needs of a human being.

    Other second order harmonics fulfill other needs. The 25th harmonic is an expression of great creativity, which we find expressed in very progressive art in our museums and music in our concert halls. The 49th harmonic is expressed through extreme abstract understanding and we see them expressed very clearly in mathematics and physics, with people like Einstein and Max Planck as examples of its highest manifestation. The 45th harmonic creates the sense of paradise or Utopia as a dream or vision for our future. From a Thomas Kincaid painting to any other dream of paradise, the 45th harmonic works its spell on us; the simple, even childish appreciation of an ultimate playful and creative world of peace and tranquility. The 63rd harmonic is expressed in parenting, training, and is expressed clearly as the director, the coach, and the guide. The coach of the team holds a special place in our hearts.

    The concept of second-order harmonics as a foundation of culture is built upon a huge amount of anecdotal evidence that is gradually becoming supported by quantitative research studies that support the validity of cosmic cybernetics as a valid phenomenon and valid process in our lives.

    Richard Tarnas, a professor and Harvard graduate, created controversy with his recent book Cosmos and Psychs8 in which he correlates historical cycles, changes in fashions and trends with fundamental cosmic cycles, i.e. planetary cycles. Not only are Tarnas's academic credentials impressive, but the scope of his study is impressive, and this book follows his previous work, The Passion of the Western Mind9, a non-astrological study of historical cycles in western culture with extraordinary eloquence and clarity, and consequently has become widely read and a required text in some college courses. In personal communicate with Dr. Tarnas he has expressed interest and optimism that the more intricate mathematical analysis provided by cosmic cybernetics will prove to be very valuable. As he stated, some of the evidence from cosmic cybernetics is compelling. Tarnas's work is necessarily basic in order to outline some basic themes. We are at the beginning of a new field of inquiry, a new discipline with staggering potential, and we are just beginning to construct the fundamental principles.

    Lunar Zodiacs and Their Corresponding Cultures

    Applying this cosmic cybernetic theory of cultural development to our understanding of various cultures leads to new insights and understandings and also to many extraordinary coincidences.

    Consider, for example, the use of lunar zodiacs in various cultures. While most of us are very familiar with the 12 zodiac signs that appear in our daily newspaper horoscope columns, in the Middle East a system of 28 zodiac signs has been extensively used, and in India a system of 27 zodiac sign is still used today. These systems of 27 and 28 zodiac signs have very different images from the 12 zodiac signs that we are familiar with. These zodiacs of 27 and 28 zodiac signs are sometimes referred to as lunar zodiacs because the Moon goes through one of these signs in approximately one day.

    If we think of the number 27 in terms of a harmonic or wave form, it is 3 cubed, or 9 times three. The number 28, on the other hand, is 7 times 4. A cosmic cybernetic wave of 9 times 3 emphasizes wholeness, acceptance, a world family, and peace. A cosmic cybernetic wave of 7 times 4 emphasizes achieving highly abstract, inner goals. In India we find a cultural emphasis on wholeness and the Hindu goals of nirvana, while in the Middle East the Islamic rituals of praying 5 times daily, the highly disciplined and conservative life style, the immersion in ancient tradition, and a culture that introduced algebra and other achievements in mathematics, and held the light of knowledge and study during the Middle Ages while much of Europe was constrained by a feudal system, plagues, etc.

    The mythology, beliefs, and interests of people are a kind of selective perception where we focus on particular realities and particular cosmic cybernetic frequencies and build our culture around them. This selective perception is very valuable because, just as an individual cannot simultaneously become a pianist, doctor, engineer, parent, and athlete, we make decisions and focus our attention on particular interests so we can succeed with them and make advancements, a culture has its own selective perception and focus.

    The article at https://astrosoftware.com/cpnew/a_and_v/enlightenment.html explores the mythological and cosmic cybernetic relationship of the number 108 to Asian religion and philosophy. We find that cosmic cybernetics adds a new dimension to our understanding of religion, philosophy, and mythology. Mythological archetypes embody basic human needs. The hero is the embodiment of our path in life, and the obstacles and struggles that the hero meets reflect our own struggles, the universal struggles that every person faces. An understanding of cosmic cybernetics reveals an intricate level of detail to many of the beliefs, images, and details of the epic stories that are overlooked without seeing the influence of cosmic cybernetic frequencies as motivating forces.

    Cosmic cybernetics, therefore, adds a new dimension of understanding to many areas of psychology, history, culture, and religion. Very importantly, cosmic cybernetics is built on scientific research and a grounding in measurable physical reality, and it is this grounding of cosmic cybernetics in a measurable reality that gives cosmic cybernetics in extraordinary vitality and importance.

    Elegance in Simple Cultures

    Another benefit of cosmic cybernetics is that it leads to an understanding that is more consonant with our observations. The Darwinian and Freudian emphasis on biological foundations of human development inclines us to think of less developed civilizations as perhaps more savage or elegant. We might expect cultures that remain simple and have not forced a sublimation of instinctual needs into higher cultural expressions to enjoy the unleashed primal needs, and be able to fully enjoy their sexual needs and other basic appetites.

    What we find in simple cultures however is often quite different. Suppose you live in a simple culture, without electricity and the benefits of higher education, etc. What do you do in this plain and simple existence? In addition to fulfilling basic necessaities, one of your priorities is likely to weave beautiful patterns in clothing, to participate in sophisticated ritualistic dances, and play music that contains interesting melody lines and harmonies that may go well beyond the use of two or three major chords. The popular music of highly developed civilizations can be simpler than those of simpler cultures. When Paul Simon made his Graceland album, his journey to follow the roots of rock n' roll down to the Mississippi delta and to Africa brought him to a world of sensitive and refined rhythms and harmonies, not to a simple, unfettered, primal, and brutish expression of eroticism, fears, and desires. While Freud's observations regarding the tensions between our more fundamental and biologically based drives contrasts with the rules and mores of civilizations is true, this dynamic is less important and plays a secondary role to the more fundamental process of attunement to natural cosmic cybernetic patterning and sophistication to which all cultures are attuned.

    There is less difference between people living in tribes in jungles and a well-dressed business executive in one of our larger cities than we might think. All people are participating in expressions of the creative and sophisticated cosmic cybernetic forces. When we enter small villages in developed parts of the world, we are more likely to be met with refinement, courtesy, social elegance, and appreciation of sophisticated expressions of art and intelligence rather than be met by brutishness and courseness. The reason for this is that these qualities that we associate with high culture are accessible to all people, and people in all cutlures respond to the cosmic cybernetic frequencies of the 25th, 35th, 45th, 49th, 63rd and other second-order harmonics.

    Philosophical Implications: Deflating a "Geocentric" Point of View

    I want to underscore a point made earlier because I think it is very important. An implication of cosmic cybernetic theory is that our personal evolution is intimately connected with our ability to shift our personal identification with our material beings, i.e. our bodies and possessions, to our attention on universal processes which we participate in through our attunement to cosmic cybernetic frequencies.

    Training children to say "thank you", to break down our self-centeredness is a natural process of realizing that we are part of a vast cosmic design and our own gifts and talents are an expression of the gifts the universe has bestowed upon us by our place within the universal scheme.

    There is a positive reason and a positive purpose to the development of social responsibility, education, culture, intelligence, and art. These phenomena are not merely extensions of a redirected primal instinctual need; these phenomena are as fundamental and primal as instinctual needs are. Prior to the development of cosmic cybernetics, many people have sensed that this is true but cosmic cybernetics provides the mechanisms through which this happens. Also, cosmic cybernetics, like any science, can develop practical applications that are useful and helpful.

    Birth Chart of the Founder of a Religion

    The advancement of cosmic cybernetics depends, more than anything else, on developing research studies that produce positive results. As pointed out earlier, this work is well underway and I am very optimistic that a body of scientific literature will develop to support cosmic cybernetics. As scientific support for cosmic cybernetics develops, we can begin to apply cosmic cybernetic theory to many situations.

    While cosmic cybernetics is still not yet unambiguously and definitively validated through scientific research, the reader may casually dismiss this entire paper as the ravings of an overactive imagination. However, as evidence in support of cosmic cybernetics does grow, we can look at the ways in which cosmic cybernetic influences have affected leaders of cultural changes and consequently affected social movements and the development of culture.

    A birth chart is a map of planetary positions at the time that a person or other entity of interest is born. We do not understand how the cosmic cybernetic effects are produced and we do not know how people become imprinted with the cosmic cybernetic influences that are in effect at the time that they are born. However, it appears from both the mass of anecdotal evidence and more importantly from the research study of the Gauquelin data described above and other research, that people are imprinted with the cosmic cybernetic influences that are in effect at the time that they are born.

    One example of this is the birth chart of an elderly man who came from India to the United States and in the last decade of his life formed a religion with a million followers. This person is know by his devotees as Srila Prabhupada, the leader of the Hare Krishna movement. Whatever we may think of the value of the Hare Krishna movement or the validity of its teachings, there is no doubt that it has been a powerful cultural and religious force in our lives. As expected, in the birth chart of Srila Prabhupada we find an extraordinary 45th harmonic pattern involving the 5 planets of Moon, Neptune, Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune. As we analyze the details of this extraordinary pattern, we begin to see how this small and seemingly insignificant man could lead a powerful international movement with great impact on cultural development.

    In Martin Luther King's birth chart we see beautiful 9th harmonic and 27th harmonic patterns that express his vision of a loving community and how he was drawn to the influence of Gandhi's thinking and the path he took to bring about civil rights.

    We can explore how cosmic cybernetic influences affect people who have had a dramatic influence on the development of culture, but this anecdotal evidence, while enlightening, is not convincing for those who are justifiably skeptical of the premise that cosmic cybernetics provides information based on valid principles. Therefore, I will not go into the details of Srila Prabhuapada's chart, or Martin Luther King's birth chart, or any number of other individual's who have influenced cultural developments or the course of history, but I am mentioning this concept now to give an idea of the enormous scope of information and understanding that cosmic cybernetics opens.

    All of these developments, however, are, I believe, dependent on establishing a more firm foundation for the scientific validity of cosmic cybernetics, and that is where the focus of most of my attention is at the moment. As the scientific support grows, we can explore the many applications of cosmic cybernetics and the details of how cosmic cybernetic influences affect individuals, communities, cultures, and world affairs with more precise tools and more assurance that our studies are actually revealing new insights rather than simply being victims of a kind of mental illusion as we manipulate these concepts. Fortunately, we have in our modern times the computing power, statistical methods, and research methodologies to distinguish valid objective truth from personal beliefs, projections, selective perceptions, and other sources of misunderstanding. With these scientific tools a science of cosmic cybernetics will flourish and continue to provide a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of the human condition and the world in which we live.

    Reference:

    1. Freud, Sigmund. The Future of an Illusion. translator W. D. Robson-Scott. Anchor Books, Doubleday and Company, 1964 (original 1927).
    2. Ibid. Page 19.
    3. Cochrane, David. "Radical Breakthroughs in 21st Century Astrology Software and the Dawn of Scientific Astrology"
    4. Cornelius, Geoffrey. The Moment of Astrology. Wessex Astrologer Ltd, 2003.
    5. Answers.com "Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal".
    6. Eysenck, Hans. Astrology, Science or Superstition? Pelican Books, 1982.
    7. Wolfram, Stephen. A New Kind of Science. Wolfram Media, Inc. Champaign, IL, 2002.
    8. Tarnas, Richard. The Passion of the Western Mind. Random House Publishing, 1993.
    9. Tarnas, Richard. Cosmos and Psyche. Penguin Group, 2006.
    10. Kurzweil, Ray. "Reflections on a New Kind of Science."
    11. Ibid.
    12. Addey, John. Harmonics in Astrology. Urania Trust, 2004


    David Cochrane AUTHOR: David Cochrane