Man or Matter: Introduction to a Spiritual Understanding of Nature on the Basis of Goethe's Method of Training Observation and ThoughtLehrs, Ernst
Religion
Man or Matter: Introduction to a Spiritual Understanding of Nature on the Basis of Goethe's Method of Training Observation and Thought
Lehrs, Ernst
Anthroposophy; Cosmology; Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 1749-1832
One of the reasons why the world-picture developed by Einstein in his
Theory of Relativity deserves to be acknowledged as a step forward in
comparison with the picture drawn by classical physics, lies in the
fact that the old conception of three-dimensional space as a kind of
'cosmic container', extending in all directions into infinity and
filled, as it were, with the content of the physical universe, is
replaced by a conception in which the structure of space results from
the laws interrelating this content. Our further discussion will show
that this indeed is the way along which, to-day, mathematical thought
must move in order to cope with universal reality.
However, for reasons discussed earlier, Einstein was forced to conceive
all events in the universe after the model of gravity as observable on
the earth. In this way he arrived at a space-structure which possesses
neither the three-dimensionality nor the rectilinear character of
so-called Euclidean space - a space-picture which, though
mathematically consistent, is incomprehensible by the human mind. For
nothing exists in our mind that could enable us to experience as a
reality a space-time continuum of three dimensions which is curved
within a further dimension.
This outcome of Einstein's endeavours results from the fact that he
tried by means of gravity-bound thought to comprehend universal
happenings of which the true causes are non-gravitational. A thinking
that has learnt to acknowledge the existence of levity must indeed
pursue precisely the opposite direction. Instead of freezing time down
into spatial dimension, in order to make it fit into a world ruled by
nothing but gravity, we must develop a conception of space sufficiently
fluid to let true time have its place therein. We shall see how such a
procedure will lead us to a space-concept thoroughly conceivable by
human common sense, provided we are prepared to overcome the
onlooker-standpoint in mathematics also.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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