Category: alchemy

Why the earth is (apparently) flat

A model of flat earth

There’s a disturbing trend in my Facebook feed. I’m seeing more and more posts from those who deny that the earth is spherical, that the sun is 93,000,000 miles away, and that stars exist. NASA, according to these people, is concealing the fact that there is no such thing as “space”, and that the flat disk-like earth, surrounded by an ice wall (which is why no one is apparently allowed to go to Antarctica), is covered by a transparent dome (the “firmament”) on which the local sun, moon, and planets all move.

Gravity does not exist for these people, and is often replaced by “density”, conveniently ignoring the idea that density needs to include gravity as part of its definition. Nor did we ever go to the moon – “it was all CGI” – ignoring the graphics capabilities of computers in the late 1960s. Nor is it really ever explained exactly why NASA (other space agencies may or may not be collaborating with the Americans) has done this and is continuing to produce fake videos of the ISS, etc.

Confused? So are these people. There seem to be as many models for this fictional universe as there are people describing it (I’m not even going to start describing the armed penguins guarding the ice wall that surrounds the flat earth). Like other conspiracy theorists, these beliefs are not based so much on written work, as on YouTube videos made by amateurs who appear to have slept through elementary physics lessons at school. Demands for proof are usually met with “don’t be a brainwashed sheeple – do your own research” (“research” in this case meaning fast-forwarding through YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram videos).

Even after the failure of their own “experiments” to prove their beliefs, these people still refuse to accept that they may possibly be mistaken.

Some of these anti-science claims are being made by obvious trolls – those putting out outrageous “theories” in order to laugh at the gullible fools who believe them. Some are actually outright hustles, taking money from the believers (and doing very well at it). And some may well be the work of foreign state actors, seeking to destabilise our society though the promotion of questioning authority.

Sadly, though, there do appear to be many who actually sincerely believe this nonsense, and these failures of logic and reason would be laughable if they were not so pathetic and disturbing. I’ve been trying to work out some of the motivations and reasons for belief in this system (not all of these apply to all believers in this anti-science nonsense):

  • Desire to be different: Claiming that you have secrets which eluded Newton, Kepler, Einstein, and Hawking makes you special. Like all keepers of secrets from alchemists onwards, these secrets are not for the common herd. Those who have these secrets are a special breed – part of the hermetic elite.
  • Religion – specifically Christian fundamentalism: By reading and misinterpreting the first verses of Genesis, and various other isolated fragments of the Bible, it is possible to derive a cosmology which has a limited correspondence with reality. Many flat-earthers are also creationists. As a PS, I would add that I am a regularly worshipping Christian – I am no atheist or Satanist arguing against religion.
  • Mental illness: Some of these believers, when faced with facts that go against their pet theory, simply resort to personal abuse, insisting that those who believe in scientific methods have been brainwashed and that the flat-earth believers are being continually lied to. They also, through their writing, may exhibit what seem to be further symptoms of persecution mania (I’m not qualified to make psychiatric diagnoses, so take this with a pinch of salt).
  • Ignorance: Especially in the USA, lack of general knowledge and reasoning ability seems to be disturbingly common. Simple arithmetic seems to be outside many people’s skillset, as do elementary logical thought processes, or the ability to consider others’ observations as evidence (“I’ve never seen the curvature of the earth from a high-flying plane, or seen a SpaceX rocket land, so no-one has”). Homeschooling and the lack of exposure to contrary viewpoints may also play a role here.

As I wrote at the start, I find this disturbing. This move towards a distrust in science also reflects a breakdown in trust in authority. I know people who find any three-letter organisation (WHO, IMF, WEF, CIA, FBI, FDA, etc.) to be an agent of “Them”. The identity of “Them” is vague, but currently seems to be the ultra-rich who are aiming to reduce the earth’s population to about 10% of its current size (“the Great Reset”) through chemtrails, Covid vaccines, food monopolies, 5G, etc. The more people who believe in this and associated paranoid theories, the faster our society will disintegrate.

I’ll leave it there. I’m depressing myself.

Posted on by Hugh Ashton

Alchemy and Rosicrucians

Here’s another for my reading list – Cabala, Spiegel Der Kunst Und Natur, In Alchymia (that is, if I can find a copy anywhere and then make my way through old German). It incorporates some of my favourite subjects: mirrors, Kabbala, alchemy, and general Rosicrucian mysticism.

Note that the links here are to both nature, as you would expect from a science, but also to art. Alchemy was much more than simply attempting to turn metals into gold, or even seeking the philosopher’s stone. It’s a way of reconciling the heavens and the earth (all the astrological and alchemical equivalences).

But much more than this, there is a link with spirituality. The quest is a spiritual perfection, or gold, to be created through the transformation of vulgar matter – the human condition, or lead. To see this (astrology) as merely “what are the stars telling us?” or (alchemy) as a get-rich scheme (though there were certainly frauds and hucksters who played on this) is to miss the point.

Links between the two proto-sciences

I call these (alchemy and astrology) “proto-sciences” because in many ways they operated in the same way as modern scientific methods. There was meticulous measurement, an insistence on replication, and a theoretical underpinning (mistaken, but complex) guiding the processes.

The links can be clearly seen in the diagram here. We have the different alchemical processes linked not only to the signs of the zodiac, but also to the “planets“ and the “elements”. As you can see from the chart below, though, there is not always a consistency in the symbols used (the same discrepancies sometimes exist in modern science).

However, note the importance of the four Paracelsian “elements” in both charts: fire, water, earth, and air, which of course are represented by the Elementals: Salamanders, Undines, Gnomes, and Sylphs. All of these, of course, come into On the Other Side of the Sky as key plot ingredients as well as adding to the general ambience of the story..

Of course, both of these disciplines, alchemy and astrology, were starting from mistaken premises regarding the fundamental nature of things, but the idea of influence at a distance, which formed part of the astrological foundation, and also found expression in the idea of the Powder of Sympathy, and “weapon salve” was in some way responsible for Newton (a passionate alchemist) developing his appreciation of gravity and the laws governing it.

Mirrors – always a subject of fascination to me. Susanna Clarke uses mirrors most effectively in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell as gateways to Faerie. I also use a bowl of water, acting as a magical “mirror” orscrying glass – and I am constantly fascinated by what lies on the other side of mirrors (as was Lewis Carroll, of course).

It’s clear that this worldview (the synthesis of astrology and alchemy) is holistic – taking into account the physical and the spiritual aspects of this world, and also the heavens. It’s not a “simple” or primitive model of the universe, even if it doesn’t correspond to what we now know, but it all comes together to create a system which is far from being nonsense, and it continues to hold my interest as a psychological view of the world (an interest also shared by Jung, of course).

Posted on by Hugh Ashton