Newton's Hidden Agenda of Mysticism and Alchemy

[zavvy]

<b>Newton's Hidden Agenda of Mysticism and Alchemy</b><br /><br />LINK<br /><br />For two centuries after his death in 1727, Isaac Newton was hailed as the supreme scientist, a Monarch of the Age of Reason and the initiator of the scientific and the industrial revolutions, of modernity itself. On one popular list of the hundred most influential people in history, Newton placed No. 2, behind Mohammed but ahead of Jesus Christ. But In 1936 an interesting lot came on the block at Sotheby's in London containing a cache of writings by Newton -- journals and personal notebooks deemed to be "of no scientific value." The winning bidder was the economist John Maynard Keynes. After perusing his purchase, Keynes delivered a somewhat shocking lecture to the Royal Society Club in 1942, on the tercentenary of Newton's birth. "Newton was not the first of the age of reason," Keynes announced. "He was the last of the magicians."<br /><br />This was meant quite literally, as was a statement expressed by the poet Wordsworth that Newton had a mind "forever voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone." For the "secret writings" made it clear that during the crucial part of Newton's scientific career -- the two decades between his discovery of the law of gravity and the publication of his masterwork, the "Principia Mathematica" -- his consuming passion was alchemy. Bunkered in his solitary live-in lab at the edge of the fens near Cambridge, Newton indulged in occult literature and strove to cook up the legendary "philosopher's stone" that would convert base metals into gold.<br /><br />And a penchant for the occult was not Newton's only quirk. He is reported to have laughed just once in his life-when someone asked him what use he saw in Euclid. He took to decorating his rooms in crimson. He stuck a knife behind his eyeball to induce optical effects, nearly blinding himself. He was a Catholic-h

 

[kmarinas86]

Alchemy happens in Supernova and thus requires a lot of energy. Enough energy to break subatomic bond is needed, like with a brute force particle accelerator. Alchemy of man is the use of mass quantities of energy used to break bonds and rearrange subatomic particles within a confined area and high temperatures. Nuclear fusion of Hydrogen to Helium is an common example of Alchemy of nature.

 

[mooware]

Do you think this article would dissapoint Newtonian?

 

[nacnud]

Nope, I think that he is well aware of Newtons alchemy.

 

[zavvy]

<font color="yellow">Do you think this article would dissapoint Newtonian?</font><br /><br />I gave him this link ages ago but I think he chose to ignore it...

 

[CalliArcale]

Newton really did stand at the cusp between two worlds -- the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. I don't think there's anything contradictory at all in the fact that while he was laying the groundwork for modern physics, he was also studying alchemy. For one thing, where did chemistry come from, if not from alchemy? His interest is entirely understandable, in my mind. It may trouble us to think that such a paragon of science as Newton would engage in something as superstitious as alchemy, but that's mostly because we have the benefit of 21st Century science. We *know* that alchemy is bunk. He didn't. Nobody did. Alchemists were still making it up as they went along; science we know it today was very much in its infancy, and making it up as you went along was perfectly acceptable. In fact, many of them (probably including Newton) would have been surprised at our modern insistence on the scientific method, on double-blinds, and things like that.<br /><br />As far as theology goes, his views were far from unique, and would become more popular, not less. In his time, he could not readily expound on his religious views -- no one could, unless they happened to be consistent with whatever religious authority was in ascendance in their particular part of the world. Religious dissent was a dangerous thing; this was the time when witch-burnings were happening, and when massive amounts of blood were being shed over religion. The formation of the United States and its principles of seperation of church and state are far more understandable in this context; our founding fathers were trying to get away from the madness that had filled Europe in the late Renaissance. In order to understand why somebody like Newton would be a Puritan, and might deny the divinity of Christ, you have to understand the philosophies and theologies of his day. If you think denying the divinity of Christ is weird, consider that in the 18th Century, Deism would rise. This movement had a profo <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[robnissen]

Excellent post. The only thing I would add is that a man (unfortunately there are few celebrated women in history), must be judged against his time, not ours. For his time, his thoughts on religion, morality, alchemy, etc., were not really outside-the-pale, and in fact, some of his musings are more attuned to our era than his.

 

[telfrow]

<font color="yellow">unfortunately there are few celebrated women in history</font><br /><br />Their stores are there, if you know where to look. <br /><br />The unfortunate truth is their stories aren't easy to find...because history was (and to some extent still is) written by men, for men, and about men. The contributions of women in history have been largely overlooked, underestimated and generally ignored.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>