Nostradamus: A critical
Analysis
Neil Marshall
I have found that a lot of humans like to trust in emotion and
superstition rather than logic and common sense. This is not necessarily
a bad thing but sometimes our imaginations seem to leep high above
what is truly the case.
I will try and present the information in the most objective way
possible.
A little Background on Nostradamus:
Michel de Nostredame, better known as Nostradamus, was a famous
astrologer who lived in the 16th century. He made many prophecies,
both for his current era and the distant future. Most famous are
his Centuries, a series of 942 verses, grouped in sets of 100, describing
future events. A single verse is commonly called a quatrain and
100 quatrains a Centurie.
His writings were in French and according to the "Scholar's Nostradamus"
(whether they are true scholars is a question that I will not answer),
they were written in code to prevent his persecution during the
Inquisition.
Some Interpretations of his writings seem to indicate that he
had amazing powers that allowed him to see into the future.
Here below is a sample (Century II, Quatrain 5)
Origional French:
Qu'en dans poisson, fer & lettre enfermee, Hors sortira, qui
puis fera la guerre, Aura par mer sa classe bien ramee, Apparoissant
pres de Latine terre.
En Anglais si vous plais (an interpretation/translation)
That which is enclosed in iron and letter in a fish, Out will
go one who will then make war, He will have his fleet well rowed
by sea, Appearing near Latin land.
Some people believe that this quatrain seems to indicate that
Nostradamus knew there would be submarines and metal warships in
the future.
This
is from the In Defense of Nostradamus Web Page:
In Century 9 Quatrain 16, Nostradamus, who lived in the mid 16th
century, wrote:
Original French De castel Franco sortira l'assemblee, L'ambassadeur
non plaisant fera scisme: Ceux de Ribiere seront en la meslee, Et
au grand goulfre desnie ont l'entree.
English Translation Out of Castille, Franco will leave the assembly,
The ambassador will not agree and cause a schism: The followers
of Rivera will be in the crowd, And they will refuse entry to the
great gulf.
Here Nostradamus tells us that in Spain -- usings its traditional
name "Castilla" -- there will be a fight between Franco and Rivera.
Francisco Franco and Primo de Rivera happened to have been the two
main opposing leaders during the Spanish Civil War of 1933. Let
that fact speak for itself.
Further more every so often there is some sort of Nostradamus
Special on TV in which the producer's "ahem-prove" that Nostradamus
had some sort of magical power that allows him to predict The French
Revolution, the World Wars, the End of the World and all kinds of
things.
That seems pretty amazing. He must be some kind of magical happy
super being.
My Opinion:
What these shows usually forget to tell you (until the credits
are rolling at the end (when nobody is watching)) is that these
are INTERPRETATIONS of Nostradamus' writing. Of course if they made
a big deal about that and included a proper logical analysis of
the Quatrains (using the Scientific Method) they would probably
loose ratings since a lot of people seem to enjoy believing that
there are supernatural forces always at work in the Universe which
science cannot explain. Wether that is true is a great philosophical
question, however the point is that when Nostradamus' writing's
are put to the test (scientifically analysed), it shows that he
really isn't as much as he has been built up to be.
At this point I would like to introduce to you what I call the
"Infinite Monkey's Principle." Let's say that I have aquired an
infinite amount of monkeys and an infinite amount of typewritters
or word processors (It doesn't matter). Of course, as far as we
know that is impossible to do (Unless you buy factory direct from
me--send 500 trillion dollars to me (gold bullion only, liquid assets
are not negotiable) But I digress... If these Infinite Amount of
Monkeys are allowed to bang out whatever they want on the infinite
typewriter, one of them will produce the complete works of Shakespear.
How? Simple if the Monkey's write random garbage but in an infinite
amount, eventually because of the simple fact that it is inevitable
(simple probability thought shows this).
How does this apply to Nostradamus? Well I will show you...
If I make say a thousand prophecies that are fairly abstract for
example:
In the City of God there will be a great thunder, Two brothers
torn apart by Chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader
will succumb
Well let us analyse this. For Example what does City of God mean?
It could be Mecca, Medina, Rome, Jeruselum, Salt Lake City, or any
holy city depending on your religion. What do I mean by thunder--a
storm? War? EarthQuake? lots of stuff can be described by thunder.
There are a lot of two brothers on this world (I think the Number
runs among the Billions) and fortress edure's what--Besiegement,
Famine, etc? What Great Leader? How will he succumb? To what?
Now let the prophecy rest for a few years. Add a couple thousand
more. Eventually, one of them will fit close enought with events
that have happened in the future that the prophecy will appear to
come true. If you make enough prophecies and are intelligent enough
to word them in such a way that they are abstract you become instant
future see-er person. For example those psychics you see every year
that make predictions for the year 199-whatever generally get one
or two out of ten predictions right. It is because they are good
guessers and that there is enough of them to make it seem like people
can really predict the future.
I am not discounting the possibility of a sixth sense nor of the
supernatural but I would like to state that there is no scientifically
proven Psychic person in the world. Ever psychic that says that
she or he is a psychic and has been put to the test has failed quite
miserably. It is true. There is no discounting that fact.
Further more, the Scholar's of Nostradomas seem to be taking further
and further leaps in logic when they interpret his writings. For
example this is a link to a page in which a person claims that Nostredomus
prophesised the breakup of Canada. Click here to judge
for yourself.
Further more I was watching a 1970's movie on Nostredamus and
it predicted that the Third World War began in 1994 and was well
on it's way by 1999. (I am holding my breath. Oh no!). The people
who "analyse" the Quatrains simply scan through history until they
find an event that seems to fit with the quatrain.
Perhaps Nostredamus was a futurist. I do not know. Perhaps he suffered
some sort of mental illness (hardly unusual in 16th century Europe).
Maybe he just had nothing better to do with his time. I do not think
though that, faced with the evidence that science has shown, he was
a true Psychic who could see the future. Call me a skeptic but I believe
the "Phrase Innocent Until Proven otherwise" should be used to regulate
any phenomena in Nature. (In this case it would be Scientifically
Explainable unless shown otherwise. Or in the Case of Psychics you
are not a Psychic unless you can prove beyond reasonable doubt that
you have these "powers")
That is all.
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