War of the Worldviews culture of astronomy
Nicholas R. Mann, The Sacred Geometry of Washington, D.C. (2006) says (p.158-160) that there are two major philosophies in the world: One, the transcendent view, sees creation from "the top down" and that God and a hierarchy of powers operating from some other realm emanates these principles and so brings order to the world. A greater transcendent order is thus behind the physical world, which is just a 'shadow' of the divine world. This worldview is identified with oligarchies and monarchies.
The "bottom up" view holds that the creation of life itself manifests these ordering principles. Molecules, cells, organisms, trees, nature, planets, and galaxies may appear chaotic but but unfold themselves according to special canons of ratio, proportion, and design. Diversity, democratic, and egalitarian politics prevail in this worldview.
The two worldviews really reflect the ancient dichotomy of the universe which can be viewed from both sides -from matter or from spirit as the starting point of the investigation. Because the colonists to America felt that they were escaping the imperialistic and religious values of Europe; they selected the naturalistic worldview. Mann concludes by hinting that every hierarchy of laws contains anomalous elements of 'chaos' -while Chaos Theory contains many elements of 'divine order'. Mann writes, "Ultimately, the whole question of the primacy of nature or the primacy of order -of matter or spirit -is probably irresolvable."
Mann's description is noteworthy in its beautiful simplicity which is the most powerful art of writing.
I would just like to say that the "top down" view came from astronomy and the observation of the universe -and that this approach is the more teachable because it relies upon orbits, cycles, geometry, mathematics -namely all the tools that helped build science in the first place. The cosmic worldview supersedes all other viewpoints because it lies at the very origin of all human logic and reason.
But many educators have heaped aspersions upon cosmic worldview and order -once again hinting that it leads to religious and monarchical political systems. But, Cosmic Order is not like some fatalistic military-machine, goose-stepping about the universe. Order is the benevolent insurance of harmony and balance allowing all things to be free to grow and develop -but not trespass upon other members of the system. Order defends the whole against the parts, and the parts against all other parts.
One of the laws of the universe is dichotomy -namely that everything is split into two halves. There are two sides to every argument, there is light and darkness, night and day, black and white, good and evil, conservative and liberal, rich and poor, kind and selfish, strong and weak, the savvy and the ignorant, true science and falsehood, sweet and sour, exciting and bland, and so on ad infinitium. Many ancient cultures have used polished stones and mirrors to delve into the future or to see the other nature of the world. Duality is the nature of the cosmos and our world. Nothing will ever change -the poor (and the rich) you will always have with you. If you want to experience life -you must have death. If you want God -you must have the Devil.
The remarkable thing about dichotomy is that each side depends upon the other for existence. Like "love and marriage" you cannot have one without the other.
Unfortunately we live in a time when one side of every argument seeks to overthrow the other side. We live in a battleground of the "War of the Worldviews" which is a harmful and unproductive state of affairs. At this moment in time a corporate and political driven science seeks to overthrow ancient science built around the concept of cosmic order -an idea which has guided human institutions and mankind since the beginning of time.
The Logistics of this War
Throughout all of history Cosmic Order has been the foundation stone and philosophy of all social. political, and religious organizations. Running alongside this fundamental idea of cosmic order have been anti-philosophies that have utilized the platform of cosmic order to advance false monarchies and tyranny -pretending to adhere to the principles of cosmic order -but ever so slightly changing around some of the language and goals to serve their own selfish design. They clothe themselves with the mantle of ancient ideas while they bring forward falsehood and deception. True adherents to cosmic order are humble persons who acknowledge a Supreme Creator who so loves his work in perpetuity having immersed itself in it. The Evangelist writes the he so loved the world that he sent his own son into it. God has created a garden for humanity while others exalt themselves with treasure and position making slaves of others and destroying the garden.
Old world astronomy has been totally divorced from modern astronomy to the extent that classical astronomy is now called astrology. The new definition of a separate identity of modern astronomy is so fervently espoused that it has become the new and futuristic worldview -and actually stands opposed to the old world astronomy -its origin and birth-mother. Modern astronomy is full of new theories, futuristic, bold and fresh -and absolutely anathema to the classical world in which science, history, and religion were intertwined through cosmic order.
Classic astronomy has been denigrated into the category of astrology. Ancient concepts of synchronicity, cosmic harmony, planetary orbits and mechanics, Maya and Vedic cosmic number systems have all been thrown into the astrological dumpster. The new house of astronomy is furnished with magnificent photos of cosmic explosions from the Hubble Space telescope; and most importantly, a worldview of enthralled discovery -unshackled by formal rules and cannons. Corporate and military-oriented science has replaced the classical order like modern abstract art has replaced the formal delineations of the Renaissance.
Futuristic astronomy is supported by a propaganda of unbelievably beautiful photos from the Hubble space telescope and films like 2001 Space Odyssey and Avatar creating images of a theoretical future, a scientific Paradise and Avalon. This insistence on salvation through corporate-science continually fuels the animosity toward classical astronomy. Now, personal and political agendas widen the gulf of estrangement between the old and the new. A war of worldviews has been declared. Nothing new appears as an independent meteor from space. The new is a slow amalgam of the old mixed with the present.
The problem with turning astronomy into a personal fight between worldviews is that such a clash turns away from the important questions that no one has ever answered:
Among the ruins of antiquity are an inordinate amount of examples of high and super-technology which pre-date most classical structures. Examples are: the Great Pyramid and Valley Temple at Giza, the Osireion at Abydos, the Mexican pyramids at Teotihuacan, the Temple of Kukulcan at Chichen Itza, and Tiwanaku in Bolivia.
The advanced projection techniques of the maps of the ancient sea kings discussed by Charles Hapgood which show large portions of the American continents and the polar regions accurately delineated without ice-caps.
The faithful adherence to the extremely ancient Atlantic Prime Meridian near Madeira and the Canary Islands which was defended by the Alexandrian geographer and astronomer Cladius Ptolemy and appeared on maps until the 18th century. So great was the respect for this Prime Meridian that even the famous Eratosthenes could not overthrow it.
The curious delineation of the constellations of the heavens through mythic animals and personages from their myths, history, science and religion. This opens up the question as to whether the ancients also coordinated these figures with the cycles of Precession, Galactic Rotation and Revolution? That is to say did they connect these images with the great epochal ages of the gods, and the great destructions by fire and water, and by drought and ice?
The Greek and Egyptian Generations of the Gods, as well as the Mexica-Maya-Andean tradition of the Five Suns -all certainly follow the cycle of the Galactic Rotation of the Milky Way. It would therefore be possible to extract and interpolate immense global climate cycles. The Great Flood has always been associated with Capricorn; while the Ekpyrosis, or the Great Fire is associated with Cancer. These may be the most extraordinary hard facts of a most advanced ancient cosmological science.
The Secret War between Culture and Civilization
Since the beginning of time there has been a secret and undeclared war between civilization and culture. The conflict between tradition and change is seen in every country under the Sun. It is a natural balance wheel that allows a society to survive within the forces of progress, corporate science, greed, war, overpopulation, and stupidity pitted against the forces of religion, justice, environmental conservation, genuine science, wisdom, and truth.
If either side of this conflict ever actually won the war against the other –society, government, and civilization would be destroyed and cease to exist. On the one hand progress would run away with itself -while on the other hand, conservatism would sit there and implode in its complacency. This dichotomy is a feature of the universe. One side is too hyperactive –the other side is too sedentary and staid. The truth is that each side should monitor the other, and speak up against the wanton excesses of their opponent. Herein would lie stability, the balance needle on the scales which weigh permanence against change.
The world is composed of opposites, dichotomies, and
mirror images. This two-sided cosmos is created by giant astronomical cycles
moving in opposite directions –clockwise and counterclockwise. The two major
cycles of this phenomenon are the cycle of the Precession of the Vernal
Equinoxes which completes one revolution in a mere 25,920 years, while it drives
the flow of politics and civilization around the globe. The other great cycle is
the revolution of the cycle of the Milky Way, our home galaxy, during the long
period of 216 million years for one revolution. The cycle of the Milky Way
motivates culture and wisdom flowing around the globe.
There is a tremendous
difference between Culture and Civilization. They are as different as wisdom and
pseudo-science, as different as native, nutrient rich, high-mountain maize and
the less virulent bulk corn developed in North America –as different as the
superlative rich Southeast Asian rice and its large-crop but less substantial
foreign hybrids. The science of civilization serves governments and
corporations, and strays from the path of truth by developing things like
nuclear energy and weapons which waste products it has not the science to
reconvert into stable or inert forms. The pseudo-science of civilization
actually has the hubris to attempt to think that it can control weather in order
to fight weather-wars among countries inhabiting the same planet. The Science of
civilization serves corporations. Try to look up diameter of the Sun on the
internet, or the global coordinates for a city and you will find various and
conflicting information.
This again returns to the discussion of culture. What
really is culture? A wit once said that “culture is what is left over after your
civilization has been destroyed by a tsunami.” Culture is the origin of science,
religion, and philosophy. It is agriculture, cultivation of food plants,
domestication of animals for food, guard dogs, and companions, plowing and
drayage. Culture is art, music, song, language, indigenous costumes, making
clothes, dying fabrics, fashioning wood, making bricks and pottery, fishing and
navigation. Civilization comes after all these things are in place.
Concerning the subject of "the culture of astronomy" modern science has dethroned astronomy as the originator and queen of the sciences. Modern science has disavowed the accumulated data of observation over thousands of years that humanity has painstakingly assembled. Cosmic cycles have been tracked, discovered, and compared in order that the heavens and Earth might be placed into unity and order. Every ancient culture has proclaimed that the beginning of intelligent life came about from the separation of Order from Chaos. These efforts made us conscious of God, morals and law. The observatory of fore-sights and back-sights to follow the movements of the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets gave rise to geometry, mathematics, surveying methods, and the practices of engineers. Countless observatories became the origin of all landscape coordinates, the central compass rose from which cities were laid out. It is almost ludicrous that this most ancient science has surveyed the very cities in which ignorant academics live who disgrace the traditions of astronomy. In substitution we are regaled with incredible colorful images of cosmic and chemical explosions. But what do these images really teach? Are they not really a carnival show of fireworks in the sky that propagate images of a futuristic Avalon of space travel to a gold rush of minerals upon the bodies of the planets of the solar system?
This is the battle between the ancient worldview of cosmic order and the modern worldview driven by the military to conquer inner space, and corporate exploitation of a new frontier. Behind every decision, investigation, and question there stands a worldview like a vigilant gate keeper reviewing every person and idea that enters the mind. The Present is the child of the Past, the Future is the grandchild of history.
2005 Culture of Astronomy 2012