How come the seas are affected by the Sun and Moon? Yes, it's gravity. Why does it have such an effect? Because the seas are really substantial masses, and gravitational attraction is directly proportional to the product of the masses concerned.
A person, in the cosmic scheme of things, is not a substantial mass. So the gravitational effect is negligible: that which can rationally be neglected. Even if there were an effect, what would it be like? Microscopically higher blood pressure on one side of my body? Until I happen to turn round?
"The effects of gravity... decrease as the square of the distance between two objects... The practical import of this is that the gravitational effects of the stars and planets on a newborn are essentially nonexistent. A mother holding her infant in her arms exerts a gravitational influence on the child that is twenty times greater than the gravitational influence of the planet Mars."
Hines (1988, p.147)
The significance of this is not that I can't imagine how such weak forces could have any effect at all, but that the forces do not have any net effect worth thinking about. It would violate a physical principle to suggest that, for instance, the forces didn't dwindle over distance.
Referring to supposed paranormal forces, Einstein wrote, in 1946:
"But I find it suspicious... that the distance of the subject from the cards or from the 'sender' has no influence on the result. This is, a priori, improbable to the highest degree, consequently the result is doubtful."
(Quoted in Gjertsen, 1989)
Other physical influences seem more significant, especially at the micro-level. The difference between the two forces of charge and gravity operating between the electron and the proton is gigantic. The Coulomb force is about (1039) times larger than the gravitational force.
There is something odd going on when people insist on the huge importance of gravity in this way, and ignore so much else. An analogous point, about ignoring social/psychological processes, is made in respect of dualism. Astrology is not synergetic, it's bad design; it's friction. It's not insightful; it's arbitrary and reductive. Consult Mayo for more insights.
PSYCHOLOGY OF BELIEF AND SUPERSTITION
© Paul Taylor 2001