Do you remember the song with these words “It is the dawning of the age of Aquarius”? I wasn’t supposed to like that song, in my religious family, but for me it was easy listening, and I liked the optimism. Also, it’s a Hippy New-Age hymn, and I had friends who were Hippies.

The lyrics are mostly about the positions of the planets and stars, and it’s based on Astrology, which is really a religion, and I am a Christian. The Bible is clear, wisdom comes from God who made the stars, and not from the created objects, like Jupiter in the seventh house. We are not supposed to get direction for our lives from mediums; “anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 10: 10 to 12) God can give us what we need.

Maybe the singers were mediums and astrologers, or maybe they were seeing possibilities for peace and prosperity. My Hippy friends were mostly on the optimism side.

Apparently, for true believers in Astrology, this year 2020 may be the most important for this new age, and possibly it began in 1844, and the most important day was Valentine’s Day 2009. There are many opinions.

READ: Age of Aquarius

So, what happened to our happy new age? It’s hard to find anything happy or positive in this year 2020. The news is mostly bad, or really terrible; it looks like Aquarius is a dud. But, who doesn’t want this? “Harmony and understanding, sympathy and trust abounding, no more falsehoods or derision, golden living dreams of visions, mystic crystal revelation, and the mind’s true liberation”

I appreciate the optimism and the hope for better things. When we have hope, life can be better.

There are stories about drowning rat experiments, and I feel sorry for the rats. Researchers were looking for signs of despair, hope, and learned helplessness and they experimented with rats. They wanted to know if people live better when they are positive, and not depressed and pessimistic. I will skip some of the details because small animals suffered, but one finding was shocking. A rat that might drown in fifteen minutes could swim for up to fifty hours, if it was taught to expect a rescue. Those numbers are amazing.

The lesson is clear; if we believe sincerely, a false hope will make us successful, until we learn the truth.

The Age of Aquarius makes sense sometimes. The human race has the power to create a paradise on Earth, like no other time in history. Whatever the position of the planets might be, we have science and technology and highly educated people, and we can solve almost any problem that we have. Maybe we could even cure cancer, or possibly heal the COVID 19 pandemic. Those dancing Hippies were onto something.

Jupiter in the Seventh House is not the issue, but we have the ability to make a better world, and it is right to hope for better things. The question is, what happened? Millions of people expected better things, and we have a world crippled by a man-made virus pandemic, and riots and violent demonstrations. Our optimism was correct, but our hope is a false hope.

Sometimes, it is good to look at the big picture instead of the details.

I believe our modern society is near the point of drowning, we are close to fifty hours of swimming, without rescue. Our false hope has carried us as far as it can. This might explain the motives behind violent demonstrations and fiery riots that are happening in this year. A younger generation does not have the hope that the older generation had, and 2020 is filled with bad news, and their bad behavior.

I think we have failed the younger generations, and our hope is proving to be a false hope. We didn’t bring the Age of Aquarius.

This is a good time to remember that human beings have often exhausted their false hopes, and despaired, in history. Many have gone before us. We have words that are thousands of years old, and we are directed to put our hope in the God who made us, and all the planets and stars.

The best result of all our troubles in this year of 2020 might be that we look up and see the light:

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest. (Isaiah 9: 2 and 3)