Transverse Lines

It looks like it's time to dig into Constructing the Universe, a book that's been haunting my bedside reading stack for almost a year now. Here's the thing: This book was loaned to me by a woman who believes deeply in astrology and it's application to our artistic egos. She determined I should read the book when our conversation about astrology turned to the topic of math as an art form integral to the construction of the universe--and thus, an innate part of the human psyche--not a subject to be feared, in other words.

So, yesterday, I'm reading my horoscope in the City Weekly, and what does it say? It says exactly this:

In his book Signs of Success, astrologer Steven Weiss says "The question 'Do you believe in astrology?' is like asking someone if they believe in art." I agree. Picture a no-nonsense physicist gazing at a Kandinsky painting, with its teeming blobs of mad color and exuberant shapes, and declaring it to be a superstitious eruption of delusion that's not based on a logical understanding of the world. Like Kandinsky's perspective, astrology at its best roots us in the poetic language of the soul, and isn't kindly submissive to the values of the rational ego. It's here to liberate our imaginations and encourage us to think less literally and to visualize our lives as mythic quests. I bring this to your attention, Sagittarius, because right now it's crucial that you spend some quality time in modes of awareness akin to Kandinsky's and astrology's.

Then, as if to drive home the point even further, I open this month's issue of DWELL, and what's the focus? Bauhaus architecture! (Kandinsky lectured at the Bauhaus school; fellow blogger, The Mop, features the band Bauhaus on his blog tunes.)

The Universe, it seems, has determined that I am spending far too much time in the realms of literal thought. Funny. How does the Universe know anything about what I'm thinking? And why is the Universe always siding with my friends and family who are constantly urging me to push the boundaries of what I deem possible for myself? It's maddening really--all this random "order" in the Universe. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. An object in motion stays in motion--until acted upon by some outside force. I guess for me this force manifests itself in the form of "Free Will Astrology." I get it, I'll start reading the book! I'll actively pursue my life as a mythic quest; but I'm warning you, Universe: you started this! You underestimate my aptitude for abstraction!