MAY 1 LAROUCHE PAC WEBCAST: MEGAN BEETS
As Kepler Shows Us,
Man Is Not an Animal
[PDF version of this transcript]
Thank you, Matthew. Now as Matt just said, the mission at hand, the mission which all of us here in the LaRouche movement have taken up, and the mission which we pose to all of you, is to create a future for civilization. One of the most important people who will determine whether or not that effort to create a future for civilization will succeed or fail, is the figure of Johannes Kepler, who died in 1630.
So why is Kepler one of the most crucial human beings present—in a certain way—in society today? Kepler proved in practice, through his discovery of the Solar System, that mankind is not a species of animal. Now, Kepler lived 400 years ago, and he lived at a time in Europe which was engulfed in the flames of religious war for generations, and in the midst of a dark age—not unlike what stares us in the face today.
However, Kepler's legacy draws not from what he was surrounded by in his daily life, but Kepler goes straight to the Italian Renaissance and to the great mind of Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa, who was the founder of modern scientific method.
Concepts Beyond Sense Perception
Now Cusa posited the idea that man, being an image of the Creator, has a mind which can generate conceptions which are completely beyond and above the imaging power of sense perception. Concepts which have no existence in the realm of sense perception, and yet, are true hypotheses about the mind of God.
Now Kepler followed his teacher Cusa. And Kepler proved with his scientific work that man indeed has a mental life; has mental processes which are not derivatives of the information gathered via sense perception and observations; that man has a mental experience that goes beyond the furthest reach of sense perception. And this mental experience is the source of concepts about principles shaping the universe which are true.
Now that is the essence of science. Kepler presents this in detail very clearly, in one of his last works, called the Harmony of the World. In that work Kepler begins from the knowledge of the nature of the motion of the planets which is based on a revolutionary conception that he had proven ten years earlier: that the Sun was a physical force; the Sun was not just a passive observer of the motions of the Solar System, as had been believed by all of his predecessors. But the Sun itself is the seat of the physical power which causes the motions of the planets; and the Sun itself is a changing physical process.
Now based upon that, Kepler was able to ask the question: what is the unifying principle of the Solar System as a One? What is the single principle which unites the multiplicity of motions of the entire system as the unfolding of one single intention?
Another way to say the same thing is: why are all of the motions of the Solar System as they are, and not otherwise?
Now, Kepler discovered that each of the planets' motions is not an individual motion. No planet is acting as an individual being, but each planet's motion belongs to a set of tuned motions, much like the individual member of a string quartet isn't acting on his own, but is responding and participating in the unfolding of one unified, tuned whole.
A Single Tuned Unity
Now. Kepler discovered this, not by calculation, not by mathematics, but by generating within his mind an original idea—as if he had created the Solar System from the start—of what the principle of the composition of the Solar System ought to be. So he conceived of the physical power of the Sun, serving the function of tuning and regulating each motion within it, to reflect a single tuned unity, which reflected a system of human polyphonic music.
So, in other words, Kepler re-cast the Solar System as an object of human thought, as a human system. And he was right. And because of Kepler, for the first time, man's mind encompassed the principle of the Solar System.
Now, animals don't do this. Animals are bound to earth. Animals are creatures of their senses. They respond to stimuli, they adjust their behavior based on stimuli, they adjust their behavior to adapt to the circumstances of the environment around them. But man is different. Man in his essence is a creature of a higher power.
So Kepler has left us with this legacy. He took the first step of discovery of the Solar System, but as I think Ben will open up for us, what we know today is that the earth and the Solar System are encompassed, subsumed, within an even larger system. We know that the earth itself is part of this larger galactic system which has effects directly for everyone living on earth. And so the challenge and the mission before us, which I'm going to ask Ben to come to the podium to elaborate, is how do we begin to tackle that—mastering that principle of the galactic system and the legacy of Kepler.
