PHILOSOPHY of ASTRONOMY
| Astronomy and the Early Greek Philosophers Astronomy was the first system of thought that brought order into the cosmos. This system made peoples lives more prosperous, safer, intelligible, and enjoyable. Astronomy provided insights into agriculture, weather, and the possibilities of deep-sea navigation. Astronomy also made people's lives more comfortable and secure through a better understanding of nature and the cosmos around them. First there was Chaos, then came astronomy to unveil the underlying order of the cosmos when helped humans feel at home in the vast universe. Archaeoastronomy is called "the culture of astronomy" and should include all those areas of human activity which astronomy has touched and influenced. Naturally these areas include the Earth, Sun, Moon, and stars. But, astronomy as the first science has touched upon everything that we know such as myth, astrology, other sciences, number, mathematics, geometry, surveying, customs, ritual, law, and even religion. Archaeoastronomy is the ultimate philosophy and worldview of cosmic order –namely that everything fits into place like the pieces of a gigantic cosmic puzzle. This field of study includes myth and astrology -subjects which are anathema in the world of modern science because of the social reaction to the nationalistic movements prior to the Second World War which delved into national myths, ancient wisdom and the occult order. Nevertheless, the majority of myths have a astronomical origin. Just take a look at the constellations that adorn our sky. Classical astrology holds the rules and formula of cosmology and the underlying physics of the universe as revealed by the concepts of Yin and Yang as well as the rules of Karma. Still, in his 2007 book, Sacred Number (p.45) Richard Heath says that the subject of cosmic order is taboo, “Modern science measures things as found, and not within a created scheme or order, which was the ancient approach.” In some instances, modern science has become the servant of politians and corporations which prefer a worldview founded upon continual progress and continual progressive evolution. But this is contrary to natural and cosmic physics which moves in cycles of development followed by degeneration, destruction, and decay; or destruction by natural disasters -followed by rebirth into a primitive state once again carried on by the survivors. The globe is full of examples of this cyclical worldview. If we look at ancient technology like the Great Pyramid at Giza and the Temples of Malta we find them to be the oldest of human buildings –but at the same time the most sophisticated and technologically advanced of human structures. How can the “oldest” be “the best and most advanced?” This flies into the face of progressive science and human evolution which follows the untenable theory of straight-line progress and continual human advancement. The ancient cosmic and cyclical worldview is founded upon certain prerequisite propositions:
Heraclitus & the Doctrine of Change Ancient philosophers like Empedocles, Heraclitus, Democrates, and Pythagoras are taught in school as if they were primitive thinkers who stood at the doorway of developing philosophy. In reality these classical thinkers were discussing the remnants and fragments of a preeminent cosmological science which had ruled the world for countless ages -but had sunk into disuse and degeneration. Empedocles' concept of Love and Hatred correctly defines the primal dichotomy and physics of the universe. Pythagoras steadfastly upheld the monad and the cosmic theory of number and geometry. Heraclitus says that everything is about 'change'. Why does he say that? What is so important about change? Heraclitus was a Greek philosopher of the city of Ephesus in Turkey (535-475 BC). He criticizes his predecessors and contemporaries for their failure to see the unity in experience. He claims to announce an everlasting Word (Logos = word, reason, logic) according to which all things are one. Opposites are necessary for life, but they are unified in a system of balanced exchanges. The world itself consists of a law-like interchange of elements, symbolized by fire [fire is the epitome of the cycle of metamorphosis: water, fire, drought, and cold -over and over again]. Thus the world is not to be identified with any particular substance, but rather with an ongoing process governed by a law of change. The underlying law of nature also manifests itself as a moral law for human beings. Heraclitus is the first Western philosopher to go beyond physical theory in search of metaphysical foundations and moral applications (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: iep.utm.edu 9/30/10). When we read the aphorisms of Heraclitus as an individual in the history and development of philosophy -we understand Heraclitus as an interesting primitive philosopher. But if we read Heraclitus in a cosmological and astronomical context -he becomes one of the great thinkers of all time. Modern physicists already credit Heraclitus as the Father of the Law of the Conservation of Energy. Context is important. Einstein once comically remarked that God made time so that everything would not happen at once. But in an astronomical context, Time is really sequential change, caused by the rotations and revolutions of the astronomical cycles. Heraclitus said that the only thing that doesn't change is 'change'. He is noted for his remark that 'you cannot step into the same river twice', because the river has changed, and you have changed. Below are fragments preserving some other sayings of Heraclitus (from Brainyquote.com 9/24/10):
William Harris of Middlebury College has written a fine compilation of the fragments of Heraclitus including his own commentary (community.middlebury.edu./~harris). Harris credits Heraclitus with influence on modern religion, the nature of the universe, the concept of the continuum, the theory of flux, cosmic balance in the struggle of the four elements, and the unity of opposites. He presents other fragments not covered above:
[This information taken from Wikipedia 10/11/11] Empedocles (ca. 490–430 BC) was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of Argentum, a Greek city in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is best known for being the originator of the cosmogenic theory of the four Classical elements [moist-hot-dry-cold]. He also proposed powers called Love and Strife which would act as forces to bring about the mixture and separation of the elements. These physical speculations were part of a history of the universe which also dealt with the origin and development of life. Influenced by the Pythagoreans, he supported the doctrine of reincarnation. Empedocles is generally considered the last Greek philosopher to record his ideas in verse. His father Meto seems to have been instrumental in overthrowing the tyrant of Agrigentum, presumably Thrasydaeus in 470 BC. Empedocles continued the democratic tradition of his house by helping to overthrow the succeeding oligarchic government. He is said to have been magnanimous in his support of the poor; severe in persecuting the overbearing conduct of the aristocrats; and he even declined the sovereignty of the city when it was offered to him. His brilliant oratory, his penetrating knowledge of nature, and the reputation of his marvelous powers, including the curing of diseases, and averting epidemics, produced many myths and stories surrounding his name. He was said to have been a magician and controller of storms, and he himself, in his famous poem Purifications seems to have promised miraculous powers, including the destruction of evil, the curing of old age, and the controlling of wind and rain [like Druids]. Souls who committed a crime were punished by being forced to become mortal beings, reincarnated from body to body. Humans, animals, and even plants have spirit. Moral conduct allows us to become like gods again. Empedocles also describes theories on causation, perception, and thought, as well as explanations of terrestrial phenomena and biological processes. Empedocles did not belong to any one definite school and is regarded an eclectic in his thinking. He combined much that had been suggested by Parmenides, Pythagoras and the Ionian schools. He was both a firm believer in Orphic mysteries, as well as a scientific thinker and a precursor of physical science. Aristotle mentions Empedocles among the Ionic philosophers, and he places him in very close relation to the atomist philosophers and to Anaxagoras. Empedocles, like the Ionian philosophers and the atomists, tried to find the basis of all change. They did not, like Heraclitus, consider coming into existence and motion as the existence of things, and rest and tranquility as the non-existence. This is because they had derived from the Eleatics the conviction that an existence could not pass into non-existence, and vice versa. In order to allow change to occur in the world, against the views of the Eleatics, they viewed changes as the result of mixture and separation of unalterable substances. Thus Empedocles said that a coming into existence from a non-existence, as well as a complete death and annihilation, are impossible; what we call coming into existence and death is only mixture and separation of what was mixed. It was Empedocles who established four ultimate elements which make all the structures in the world - fire, air, water, earth. Empedocles called these four elements "roots", which, in typical fashion, he also identified with the mythical names of Zeus, Hera, Nestis, and Aidoneus. Empedocles never used the term "element" (Greek: στοιχε?ον) (stoicheion), which seems to have been first used by Plato. According to the different proportions in which these four indestructible and unchangeable elements are combined with each other the difference of the structure is produced. It is in the aggregation and segregation of elements thus arising, that Empedocles, like the atomists, found the real process which corresponds to what is popularly termed growth, increase or decrease. Nothing new comes or can come into being; the only change that can occur is a change in the juxtaposition of element with element. This theory of the four elements became the standard dogma for the next two thousand years [The ancient dichotomy of light and darkness divided itself into four cosmic elements moist-hot-dry-cold which create and sustain the cosmos]. The four elements are simple, eternal, and unalterable, and as change is the consequence of their mixture and separation, it was also necessary to suppose the existence of moving powers - to bring about mixture and separation. The four elements are eternally brought into union, and eternally parted from each other, by two divine powers, Love and Strife. Love (Greek: φιλos) explains the attraction of different forms of matter, and Strife (Greek: νεiκος) accounts for their separation. If the elements are the content of the universe, then Love and Strife explain their variation and harmony. Love and Strife are attractive and repulsive forces which the ordinary eye can see working amongst people, but which really pervade the universe [these are also seen in the positive and negative magnetism in the globe and the universe]. The sphere of Empedocles As the best and original state, there was a time when the pure elements and the two powers co-existed in a condition of rest and inertness in the form of a sphere. The elements existed together in their purity, without mixture and separation, and the uniting power of Love predominated in the sphere: the separating power of Strife guarded the extreme edges of the sphere. Since that time, strife gained more sway and the bond which kept the pure elementary substances together in the sphere was dissolved. The elements became the world of phenomena we see today, full of contrasts and oppositions, operated on by both Love and Strife. The sphere being the embodiment of pure existence is the embodiment or representative of god. Empedocles assumed a cyclical universe whereby the elements return and prepare the formation of the sphere for the next period of the universe. Cosmogony Since the time of the sphere, Strife has gained more sway; and the actual world is full of contrasts and oppositions, due to the combined action of both principles. Empedocles attempted to explain the separation of elements, the formation of earth and sea, of Sun and Moon, of atmosphere. He also dealt with the first origin of plants and animals, and with the physiology of humans. As the elements entered into combinations, there appeared strange results - heads without necks, arms without shoulders. Then as these fragmentary structures met, there were seen horned heads on human bodies, bodies of oxen with human heads, and figures of double sex. But most of these products of natural forces disappeared as suddenly as they arose; only in those rare cases where the parts were found to be adapted to each other, did the complex structures last. Thus the organic universe sprang from spontaneous aggregations, which suited each other as if this had been intended. Soon various influences reduced the creatures of double sex to a male and a female, and the world was replenished with organic life. It is possible to see this theory as an anticipation of Darwin's theory of natural selection, although Empedocles was not trying to explain evolution. Perception and Knowledge Empedocles is credited with the first comprehensive theory of light and vision. He put forward the idea that we see objects because light streams out of our eyes and touches them. While flawed in hindsight, this became the fundamental basis on which later Greek philosophers and mathematicians, such as Euclid, would construct some of the most important theories on light, vision and optics. Knowledge is explained by the principle that the elements in the things outside us are perceived by the corresponding elements in ourselves. Like is known by like. The whole body is full of pores, (and hence respiration takes place over the whole frame). In the organs of sense these pores are specially adapted to receive the effluences which are continually rising from bodies around us; and in this way perception is explained. Thus in vision, certain particles go forth from the eye to meet similar particles given forth from the object, and the resultant contact constitutes vision. Perception is not merely a passive reflection of external objects. Empedocles noted the limitation and narrowness of human perceptions. We see only a part, but fancy that we have grasped the whole. But the senses cannot lead to truth; thought and reflection must look at the thing on every side. It is the business of a philosopher, while laying bare the fundamental difference of elements, to display the identity that exists between what seem unconnected parts of the universe. Reincarnation Like Pythagoras, Empedocles believed in the transmigration of the soul, that souls can be reincarnated between humans, animals and even plants. For Empedocles, all living things were on the same spiritual plane; plants and animals are links in a chain where humans are a link too. Empedocles urged a vegetarian lifestyle, since the bodies of animals are the dwelling places of punished souls. Wise people, who have learned the secret of life, are next to the divine, and their souls, free from the cycle of reincarnations, are able to rest in happiness for eternity. Diogenes Laërtius records the legend that he died by throwing himself into an active volcano (Mount Etna in Sicily), so that people would believe his body had vanished and he had turned into an immortal god. Conclusion Cosmic order unveils a universe so perfectly conceived that its creator could immerse himself within it. The first scientists came upon a perpetual, truly balanced, and harmonious cosmos where humans, God, nature, and physics were interwoven and intertwined through geometry, proportion, and number. This astronomic worldview and philosophy ruled the ancient world and became the foundation of our concepts of politics, science, and religion. The Culture of Astronomy is an insight to the highest levels of ancient wisdom, and discloses the ideas that have formed the foundation of the modern world. We are the seed of the universe. Our very make-up and proportions mimic the cosmos. Our logic operates along the lines of cosmic physics and the pathways of the universe. Our respiratory cycle, palpitation of our heart, metabolism, gestation, menstruation -all follow the cosmic beat and the synchronism of its cycles. Our very ideas about God, the Divine Creator have come from astronomy. The heavens have conditioned the way we think. From the very beginning, astronomy was and is a language and philosophy common to all people and nations. |
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