The physics world and the German press were exited with early reports that the elusive “Gods particle” had been detected at CERN’s during their LHC experiments. Accidentally CERNs technician put an internal video in youtube without GEMA permission. I may believe CERN cannot control Gods tiny HIGGS particles, but their own web? Long live wikileaks.
The so-called Higgs Boson was predicted 40 years ago by British physicist Peter Higgs. It it is required in the Standard Model to give a mass to all other elementary particles by interacting with the Higgs field that permeates all space.
In the 30s of last century it was “secured” knowledge that electron, proton and neutron are indivisible building blocks of matter. The development of quantum theory, however, allowed a more detailed description of the atomic structure. Into Quarks and Leptons (e.g. Electrons) which are indeed elementary and the composite Hadrons (e.g, protons and neutrons) made of further building blocks i.e. quarks. Furthermore more elementary particles were discovered. The so-called Standard Model of particle physics is based on three basic components: three families of particles (Fermions,Bosons,Hadrons), four forces(gravity, electromagnetic, weak/strong force) and mass.
Each elementary particle family has a special task: from the Fermions, which are Quarks and Leptons, the matter is built up and the so-called Bosons transmit forces. The Higgs boson is responsible for ensuring that their elementary (slow) mass obtained. Each of these fundamental particles is an essential element of our nature, the world does not exist without either or would be but were in a very exotic state .
In the family of Leptons, we find our familiar electron; the Hadron (built by Quarks) family contains the familar Proton and the Neutron. The HIGGS particle is in the esoteric Boson Gauge family.
In the standard model, at temperatures high enough (Big Bang) all (elementary) particles are massless, below a critical point condensation the W and Z bosons acquire masses by ElectroWeak Symmetry Breaking.
Elementary
Fermions
Quarks
u · u · d · d · c · c · s · s · t · t · b · b
Leptons
e− · e+ · μ− · μ+ · τ− · τ+ · ν
e · ν
e · ν
μ · ν
μ · ν
τ · ν
τ
Bosons
Gauge
γ · g · W± · Z
Composite
Hadrons
Baryons / Hyperion’s
N (p · n) · Δ · Λ · Σ · Ξ · Ω
Mesons / Quarkonia
π · ρ · η · η′ · φ · ω · J/ψ · ϒ · θ · K · B · D · T
Fermions, such as the leptons and quarks in the Standard Model, can also acquire mass as a result of their interaction with the Higgs field, but not in the same way as the gauge bosons.
The new discovery is 4.9 sigma probability – 0.1 below accepted scientific certainty. So far, the 125,3 +/- 0,6 GeV is press sensation and publish or perish (first).
1. The Higgs Mechanism
Imagine a cocktail party of political party workers who are uniformly distributed across the floor, all talking to their nearest neighbours. Margret Thatcher enters and crosses the room. All of the workers in her neighbourhood are strongly attracted to her and cluster round her. As she moves she attracts the people she comes close to, while the ones she has left return to their even spacing. Because of the knot of people always clustered around her she acquires a greater mass than normal, that is, she has more momentum for the same speed of movement across the room. Once moving she is harder to stop, and once stopped she is harder to get moving again because the clustering process has to be restarted. In three dimensions, and with the complications of relativity, this is the Higgs mechanism. In order to give particles mass, a background field is invented which becomes locally distorted whenever a particle moves through it. The distortion – the clustering of the field around the particle – generates the particle’s mass. The idea comes directly from the Physics of Solids. Instead of a field spread throughout all space a solid contains a lattice of positively charged crystal atoms. When an electron moves through the lattice the atoms are attracted to it, causing the electron’s effective mass to be as much as 40 times bigger than the mass of a free electron. The postulated Higgs field in the vacuum is a sort of hypothetical lattice which fills our Universe. We need it because otherwise we cannot explain why the Z and W particles which carry the Weak Interactions are so heavy while the photon which carries Electromagnetic forces is massless.
2. The Higgs Boson.
Now consider a rumour passing through our room full of uniformly spread political workers. Those near the door hear of it first and cluster together to get the details, then they turn and move closer to their next neighbours who want to know about it too. A wave of clustering passes through the room. It may spread out to all the corners, or it may form a compact bunch which carries the news along a line of workers from the door to some dignitary at the other side of the room. Since the information is carried by clusters of people, and since it was clustering which gave extra mass to the ex-Prime Minister, then the rumour-carrying clusters also have mass. The Higgs boson is predicted to be just such a clustering in the Higgs field. We will find it much easier to believe that the field exists, and that the mechanism for giving other particles mass is true, if we actually see the Higgs particle itself. Again, there are analogies in the Physics of Solids. A crystal lattice can carry waves of clustering without needing an electron to move and attract the atoms. These waves can behave as if they are particles. They are called phonons, and they too are bosons. There could be a Higgs mechanism, and a Higgs field throughout our Universe, without there being a Higgs boson. The next generation of colliders will sort this out.
from David J. Miller, Physics and Astronomy, University College London.
What we are seeing in our time is a generation, where truth is relative to what people wish to believe. Those with this mindset have now infiltrated and are actively taking over our Christian institutions. It is influenced by a Science of Religion that was not, as a rule, done by advocates of the Christian faith. The anti-Christian theory that all religions may be derived from some preconceived philosophy with the emphasis placed a so called openness. They have included Christ in the same category with Plato and Buddha, or a minor prophet, and have generally placed Him upside down; and this supposed openness has given them a degree of influence with dubious and wavering Christians, as well as with multitudes, which are without faith of any kind. Many other works designed to show that Christianity was developed from ancient myths, or sell fiction stories about him, have been current among us. But strangely enough, the Christian Churches, except the Catholic Church, which watches centralized over its belief, has seemed to regard this subject as scarcely worthy of serious defense. That is very surprising, because in a single word, the struggle of truth and error has become world-wide globalized and localized at the same time.
The inter-religious discourse
There are no ethnic religions anymore. There is Christianity in Beijing, and there is Buddhism in Munich. This is fine. Western intellectuals surpringly have manifested an ardent affinity to extremist ideologies against human rights, rational thought (as opposed to dogma), tolerance and an open society if it comes from Islam. The line of struggle is the parallel that belts the globe. There must be no blundering: the counter-missionary effort must be waged with arguments of precision, while thoroughly expansive religions claim there victory is sure. It is like last centuries Christian missionary effort has drawn the fire of the enemy with a time delay towards Europe, and the current Christians don’t even notice. There is a reason, perhaps, why these hostile systems have been underestimated.
Not only is the modern missionary enterprise of the Christian churches in self doubt, also the Christians themselves are. Before you can act efficiently in self-defense for you Religion, you have to know your own religion and have a basic understanding of others. Good men are asking, “Is not such a study a waste of energy? And my answer, “No: by all means. Another view of the subject is more serious. May there not, after all, be danger in the study of false systems? Will there not be found perplexing parallels which will shake our trust in the positive and exclusive supremacy of the Christian faith, or we start cherry picking? Well, the early church, when brought face to face with the culture of Greece and the self-assertion of Roman state, when confronted with profound philosophies like those of Plato and Aristotle, and with countless admixtures of Gnostic mysticism, had quite as formidable a task as those that are presented in the countless false belief systems of to-day. It will be of advantage, for one thing, if we learn to give credit to the non-Christian religions (and the philosophy’s) for the good which they may fairly claim.
Crusade of the atheists
In a world that has become relativistic, a new paganism has gained more and more influence over people’s thoughts and actions. A new intolerance is spreading. There are imposed standards of thinking that are supposed to be imposed on everyone. The aggressiveness with which this new religion appears was described by the German magazine “Spiegel” as a “crusade of the atheists”. It is a crusade that mocks Christianity as the illusion and classifies every religion as a curse. Anti-Christian writers have made great capital of the alleged crimes of Christianity; also here it is useful to counter based on facts on whichever side the truth may be. Whether the secular press (not all media are thus unfair) are influenced by partisan hatred of the truth or simply by a reckless regard for whatever is most popular does not matter. The saddest consideration is that the power of the secular press is so vast and far reaching. When Plato wrote, books were few. When Voltaire, Hume, Marx and Nietzsche made their assailants on the Christian faith, the discussion was worthwhile. But now the accumulated opinions and opinionated judgments of the new infidels are spread relentlessly. It became a sermon rather than a philosophic debate, with the Christian sermon never heard in the owerpowering white noise.
Dictatorship of relativism
“We are building a dictatorship of relativism”, Pope Benedict declared in his homily at the opening of the conclave [in 2005], “that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate standard consists solely of one’s own ego and desires.” The truth comes to rule, not through violence, but rather through its own right; this is the central theme of John’s Gospel: When brought before Pilate, Jesus professes that he himself is The Truth and the witness to the truth.
In his futuristic novel Brave New World, the British author Aldous Huxley had predicted in 1932 that deception and lies would be the decisive element of modernity. Today, in fact, truth is regarded as subjective and the distinction between genuine and fake seems to have been discarded. Everything seems negotiable. History has sufficiently demonstrated how destructive majorities can be, for instance, in systems such as Nazism and Marxism, all of which also stood against truth in particular.
Taking a stand.
It is perfectly evident that in an age like this we cannot propagate Christianity without brain and heart. But it needs also patience. Several days ago I entered in a blog exchange with a difficult fellow. After three interactions, I politely broke up the conversation, because I became bored with his substance-less illogical argumentation style. Was I right? I think I was not.
“Each of you has a personal vocation which He has given you for your own joy and sanctity. When a person is conquered by the fire of His gaze, no sacrifice seems too great to follow Him and give Him the best of ourselves. This is what the saints have always done, spreading the light of the Lord … and transforming the world into a welcoming home for everyone.”
The psychoanalytic C.G.Jung and the famous astronomer Kepler were both intuitive thinkers and empiric scientists with strong mystic tendencies. Pauli was a famous particle physicist, who collaborated with C.G. Jung on the concept synchronicity. When I studied Kepler’s work, I found a similarity of C.G. Jung’s and Kepler’s view on astrology and to my surprise, that Kepler even used the term archetype just in the way C.G. Jung did. This is touched in Pauli’s essay on Kepler. Kepler, Pauli and Jung were trailblazers in their own disciplines as well as in the realm of collaboration across disciplines. Their similar approach as scientist or physician and the concept of synchronicity and archetype form a triangle.
C.G.Jung valued astrology as one of the intuitive methods he used like the I Ching. For him astrology is based upon the synchronicity principle, i.e. meaningful coincidence: “Astrology is a naively projected psychology in which the different attitudes and temperaments of man are represented as gods and identified with planets and zodiacal constellations”.
Kepler is recognized as one of the founders of modern science. He was a devout Christian with mystical tendencies (obvious in his book Harmonices Mundi) working as astrologer of General Albrecht von Wallenstein, a successful soldier of fortune for Rudolph II. Keplers (two) horoscopes of Wallenstein are studied and books written about them until today. Kepler lived during turbulent times, the 30 Year’s War, in “Germany”. This war, by no means only a religious war, decimated half of its population. Kepler was not only working as astrologer in order to make ends meet (he got never paid for his job as court astronomer and adviser of the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II). Although Kepler was deeply dissatisfied with the way some astrology was practised, he strove to improve the predictive capability by strengthen the theoretical underpinnings of astrology with both mathematical and philosophical models and his superior ephemeris (his Rudolphine Tables). He used carefully selected methods (sun arc directions – and secondary directions – one ephemeris day equals one year of life – but not for planets but axis, which is actually a primary direction i.e.one degree on the Zodiac equals one year of life). For Kepler the sun/earth relation is paramount..He also compared astrological predictions correcting assumed birth time and was able to use “true time” that is actual pace of the Sun not the mean time.
Kepler strongly believed that ‘The world of nature, the world of man, the world of God—all three fit together.In particular, Kepler reasoned that because the universe was designed by an intelligent Creator, it should function according to some logical pattern.Kepler converted to the Copernican heliocentric universe early in his career but was also strongly influenced by neo-Platonic philosophy, which saw the divine in the regularity of geometry (“God always geometrizes”, Plato). It is no exaggeration to say that Kepler was one of the most outstanding and dramatic figures under all his contemporaries and a scientist who repeatedly attacked dogmas of astronomy or astrology. He not only ensured that the Copernican theory became widely recognized, but actually gave it the needed physical and mathematical underpinnings. Before Kepler’s Laws, the basic Copernican model was neither more reliable, nor physical more accurate or mathematical less complicated than the old Ptolemaic model: All astronomers assumed (wrongly) uniform circular motion. When Kepler worked in the Prague period on the “Astronomia nova“, he discovered the famous second law of planetary motion (“planets moved in elliptical orbits, in which a focal point the Sun is”) with the millennia-old paradigm. This needed intellectual courage of Kepler, because it was a break with the tradition of all great astronomers from Ptolemy and Copernicus and the concept of the perfect form – the circle. Nonetheless, after numerous calculations and double-checks Kepler regretfully accepted, basically apologizing to god in his foreword. Kepler also calculated without wavering the birth date of Jesus Christ new. In his work “About the date of birth of God’s true Jesus Christ” Kepler identified the star of Bethlehem with the great conjunction of Saturn and the Jupiter and calculated that this event on the third year CE.
Pauli, a “Wunderkind” may be called a pioneer of quantum physics and leading member of the group of theoretical physicists, including Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger. The group transformed our understanding of the way matter behaves at the subatomic level encountering a new world where Einstein’s theories (and Newtons Laws) do not apply. Exploration of the Pauli-Jung collaboration is particularly interesting because of the holistic view of his major scientific work, which won him the Nobel prize.The Pauli exclusion principle explains how matters form and a variety of astrophysic effects.
On the psychic side, the Pauli effect was named after the anecdotal bizarre ability of his to break experiments simply by being in the vicinity and his sarcastic remarks toward colleagues. Pauli has always been a strong drinker, which did not seem to hamper his scientific genius. His marriage with a bar singer-dancer became a complete disaster within one year. His mother committed suicide. Despite his Jewish origins Pauli was baptised catholic. Pauli met with Jung, whom he consulted regularly till 1934 in a deep psychological crisis. Especially Pauli’s dreams, which were full of symbolism from alchemy, were extensively discussed.
Pauli himself had written an article called “The Influence of Archetypal Ideas on the Scientific Theories of Kepler” which appeared later in a volume with an essay of Jung’s on synchronicity. The Pauli-Jung collaboration aimed at explication of a unifying or connecting principle bridging the gap between mind and matter or (quantum) physics with psychoanalysis. Jung’s theory of synchronicity stipulated that certain events-often called coincidences-actually reveal the operation of an non-causal connection between mental and physical events through meaning. The history of Jung’s reception by the scientific and scholarly communities is cautious – they largely discredited theories of Freud are considered scientific, but although many Jung’s concepts are widely used his overall work is labeled often as unscientific. Synchronicity has been the prime target for criticism of Jung, but is for me a natural extension of Jung’s view of the intuitive function.
Synchronicity
Jung coined the word to describe what he called “temporally coincident occurrences of acausal events” or “meaningful coincidence” and “acausal parallelism in which archetypes and the collective unconscious are governing a dynamic that underlies the whole of human experience and history — social, emotional, psychological, and spiritual.
Synchronicity does not admit causality in the analogy between terrestrial events and astrological constellations … What astrology can establish are the analogous events, but not that either series is the cause or the effect of the other. (For instance, the same constellation may at one time signify a catastrophe and at another time, in the same case, a cold in the head.) … In any case, astrology occupies a unique and special position among the intuitive methods… I have observed many cases where a well-defined psychological phase, or an analogous event, was accompanied by a transit (particularly when Saturn and Uranus were affected). – Carl G. Jung
Jung’s paradigmatic example of a synchronicity occurred during a therapy session, and the connecting meaning in a synchronistic event is subjective, related to the individual’s psychological maturation, or individuation. Jung and Pauli believed, events like this occur too often enough to be only meaningless coincidence. Jung noted taking as usual phenomenological stance, while it would be “absurd” to consider the conjunction of dream material and life events to be causal, “it is wise to consider the fact that [these coincidences] do happen…The East…considers coincidences as the reliable basis of the world rather than causality. Synchronism is the prejudice of the East; causality is the modern prejudice of the West.”
Jung mentioned the concept again in his commentary to Wilhelm’s translation of “The Secret of the Golden Flower”. He concluded that “the causality principle” cannot explain “psychic parallelisms” that must somehow be connected but are not causally related and equated synchronicity with the Chinese Tao. Jung would write about this concept again, and when he did, his focus would shift from the empirical and phenomenological aspects of synchronistic phenomena to the ontological and archetypal nature of such events. Pauli thought that the probabilistic nature of quantum theory and the Uncertainty Principle offered the possibility of discovering something beyond the mind-matter gap which transformed Jung’s understanding of synchronicity. As a result of his interaction with Pauli, Jung gradually came to see this non-causal connecting principle as an explanatory theory must be seen in combination with causality to lead to a better understanding reality, rather than having only a subjective meaning.
Astrology and Alchemy
C.G.Jung saw alchemy as continuation of Gnostic thoughts and wrote: “The starry vault of heaven is in truth the open book of cosmic projection, in which are reflected the mythologies, i.e., the archetypes. In this vision astrology and alchemy, the two classical functionaries of the psychology of the collective unconscious, join hands”.
In his book “Psychology and Alchemy” of C.G. Jung contains Pauli’s early dreams which provided Jung with a rich resource for theoretical exploration, and his own interpretations played a role in Jung’s theories. Pauli clearly believed that this effort was scientific; he said that “even the most modern physics also lends itself to the symbolic representation of psychic processes, even down to the last detail.” In his final version of the synchronicity essay (The Interpretation of Nature and the Psyche Part 2), Jung wrote that the “archetype represents psychic probability”. Pauli wrote in his Kepler essay (published there as part one), that “pure logic” is not capable of establishing a “bridge between the sense perceptions and the concepts.” Kepler himself thought that scientific ideas discerned by humanity exist eternally as archetypes in the mind of God, and Jung’s theories understand archetypes similar “as ordering operators and image-formers” in the symbolic. “It would be most satisfactory” said Pauli, “if physics and psyche could be seen as complementary aspects of the same reality.”
Kepler expressed also original ideas in relation to astrology almost like something the physical resonance theory like: the celestial bodies themselves exert no influence on the human fate, but fixed the angle between the rays toward the heavenly bodies the soul at the moment of human birth and later responds specifically to them. He used actually the term archetypes in his astrological work and not only his Wallenstein horoscope legendary. Kepler ideas, as Wolfgang Pauli observed, identify important intermediate stage between archaic, logical symbolic, and new, quantitative and mathematical description of nature. Much of what was later separated in scientific and non-scientific knowledge was at that time merged inseparably. Similar to representatives of scholastic science, Kepler relied on accuracy, allegory, speculative ideas, and mysticism, but unlike the Scholastics he tested constantly each theory and carefully compared the results with the rich observations of Tyco Brahe and calculations. C.G. Jung derived lekewise many of his insights from observation he made treating his patients.
Ancient wisdom in a global world
Our modern science begins with astronomy. Instead of saying that man was led by psychological motives, they formerly said he was led by his stars. … The puzzling thing is that there is really a curious coincidence between astrological and psychological facts, so that one can isolate time from the characteristics of an individual, and also, one can deduce characteristics from a certain time. Therefore we have to conclude that what we call psychological motives are in a way identical with star positions. Since we cannot demonstrate this, we must form a peculiar hypothesis. This hypothesis says that the dynamics of our psyche is not just identical with the position of the stars, nor has it to do with vibrations – that is an illegitimate hypothesis. It is better to assume that it is a phenomenon of time. … The stars are simply used by man to serve as indicators of time… – Carl G. Jung in 1929
The arrogance of today’s scholarstoward medieval age and traditional knowledge is incomprehensible and the humiliating assessments of Kepler activity, which can be found in the “history of Western philosophy” by Bertrand Russell who described Kepler is “an example of what can achieve mediocrity through hard work”. But Kepler, not Galileo came up for the mathematical proof and physical correct model of the heliocentric model. Kepler is particularly suitable for tracking the various sides and peculiarities of the epistemological concepts, problems of scientific paradigm change and the relations between the empirical and theoretical knowledge. Kepler himself speaks of primary images as being “archetypal” [archetypalis], and Pauli develops a detailed correspondence with Jung’s archetypes. Pauli writes: “the view of the universe was not as yet split into a religious one and a scientific one.” Indeed subjects of physics, religion, mathematics and astrology are all found in one single book of Kepler. His astrological and religious themes have been neglected and Jung’s broader view of psychoanalysis has until very recently been marginalized. The tide is slowly turning, though, and at least Jung may yet have his day. Physicists with a psychological or spiritual inclination have taken note of synchronicity and written of its validity for exploring the connection between quantum and classical physics. Others scientists have begun to explore theories of human cognition that rely on constructs very much like Kepler’s and Jung’s archetypes and his evolutionary understanding of human experience so useful in a globalized world, where I cross many cultural boundaries on a given day.To me Kepler’s astrology is not only superstition but contains some psychological facts (like theosophy) which are of considerable importance. Kepler never predicted the future but in possible (character) dispositions. His astrology connects at least culturally and historically the religion and psychology of antiquity with physics and astronomy of today.
Jung, C. G., Pauli, W. (1952): Naturerklärung und Psyche. Zürich: Rascher (Download)
C.G. Jung (1955) Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle
Wolfgang Pauli. Verzeichnis der Manuskripte und Korrespondenzen im Archiv der ETH Zürich
Wolfgang Pauli und die moderne Physik. Virtuelle Ausstellung der ETH-Bibliothek
Pauli Archives, CERN, Nachlassverzeichnis
W. Pauli, The Influence of Archetypal Ideas on the Scientific Theories of Kepler
Kepler, Harmonices mundi, Harmony of the Worlds, 1619
Das Buch ist eine vollständige, zuweilen recht wissenschaftliche und sehr detaillierte Ricci Biographie , dessen Kapitel hauptsächlich nach Wirkungsorten und in den letzten zwei Kapiteln nach sein Hauptwerken angeordnet sind. Der Autor ist Chinese-American, der daher auch chinesische Quellen berücksichtigten kann. Das Buch wird vom Kapitel Beijing an ausserordentlich lebendig, und brilliant, geradezu einzigarig wenn es Riccis Argumentation beschreibt. Man glaubt wirklich dabei zu sein, im “Hostel for Barbarians” eine Art Hotel Lux oder bei den vielen Konversationen deren Eleganz noch im Englischen fühlbar ist. Ricci war als Begründer der Chinamission – in einer Zeit von offener Xenophobie eine beachtliche Leistung – einer der bedeutendsten Vermittler europäischer Ideen nach China. Zugleich aber brachte er zum ersten Mal Kenntnisse über Gesellschaft, Geschichte und Kultur der Chinesen der späten Ming-Zeit nach Europa. Ricci ist Begründer der Akkommodationsmethode und Inkulturation. Er lernte die Landessprache, studierte die chinesische Literatur und nahm einen chinesischen Namen an. Er pflegte die Lebensgewohnheiten und Umgangsformen der Gelehrten des Landes, mit denen er in freundschaftlicher Beziehung stand. Als Adressaten seiner missionarischen Vorgehensweise sah Ricci primär die konfuzianische Bildungselite. Der Bezug zu den Eliten des Landes hatte überdies zum Ziel, den Kaiser zu erreichen und möglicherweise zum Christentum zu bekehren, um dann von oben das ganze Reich zu christianisieren. Das Buch stellt ausgezeichnet sein Hauptwerk vor, das versuchte ein etwas vereinfachtes Christentum mit dem Konfuzianismus zu verbinden (in klarer Gegnerschaft zum Taoismus und Buddhismus). Die Querverbindungen z.B. zu Galileo Galileis Wirken oder den Nestorianischen Zeugnissen die die Jesuiten vorfanden werden im Buch kaum erwähnt. Der Index ist etwas dünn, die Fülle der präsentierten Fakten erschliesst sich erst durch aufmerksames Lesen. Das sehr informative Buch geht, wie zu erwarten ist, exzellent auf die Interaktionen der verschieden Religionen und Kulturen aus chinesischer Sicht ein. Oft werden die vielen Gespräche, die Ricci mit den “hochgestellten aber machtlosen Verwandten”, den mächtigen Generälen und den vielen Mandarins geführt hat, zitiert oder Dialoge nachgestellt. Das macht den grossen Reiz des Buches aus. Der Autor ist Professor der Pen Universität und es gibt gute youtube Interviews von ihm.
Ricci in Macerata und Rom
Matteo Ricci stammte aus Macerata. Dort besuchte der das Jesuitenkolleg und studierte Jurisprudenz in Rom, bevor er1671 ins römische Noviziat der Gesellschaft Jesu eintrat. In seiner weiteren Ausbildung studierte er Philosophie und Theologie, aber auch Mathematik beim berühmten P. Christoph Clavius Mathematiker, Astronom und Jesuitenpater am Collegio Romano, der kollegial-freundschaftliche Beziehungen zu Galileo Galilei unterhielt . 1578 wurde Matteo Ricci als Missionar nach Asien entsandt, hielt sich zunächst im indischen Goa auf. Die große Sehnsucht des Jesuiten (1552-1610) galt der christlichen Mission in China, wo bisher alle Versuche, Fuß zu fassen fehlgeschlagen waren.
Die Überfahrt
Gute und packende Beschreibung der pysischen Anstrengung und Gefahren einer solchen Überfahrt und der bewunderswerten Disziplin der Jesuiten,
Ricci in Goa
Mit der Ankunft des italienischen Jesuiten Matteo Ricci beginnt 1583 die christliche Mission in China , aber erst 1601 konnte er Peking betreten. In den ersten Jahren sind Ricci und seine Gesellen allein schon aus sprachlichen Gründen unfähig, ihre Lehre auf Chinesisch angemessen zu formulieren, daher verwundert es nicht, dass die Christen anfangs tatsächlich als eine Spielart des Buddhadharma missverstanden werden; kommen sie doch – wie die Lehre des Buddha – auch aus dem fernen Westen, und die Statue der Madonna mit Kind wird von den Buddhisten als Darstellung der Guanyin gedeutet.
Ricci in Zaoqing
1583 ließ er sich in Zhaoqing in der Provinz Guangdong nieder, gemeinsam mit seinem Mitbruder und Landsmann Michelle Ruggieri, dem er als Assistent zugeteilt worden war. In den ersten zwölf Jahren seiner Tätigkeiten passen sich die Jesuiten äußerlich an buddhistische Gepflogenheiten an, sie tragen die in China übliche buddhistische Mönchskleidung und bezeichnen sich selbst als “Bhikkhu” (chin. seng), leben in buddhistischen Klöstern oder in deren Nähe.
Ricci in Shangzu
Er ging zuerst nach Shangzu, und dort konnt er er schon ohne Übersetzer auskommen. Er nahm die Kleidung des gebildeten Chinesen an. 1598 unternahm er einen erfolglosen Versuch, sich in Peking zu etablieren. Er musste 1599 nach Nanking ausweichen fand aber dort eine völlig veränderte Situation vor. Die höchsten Mandarinen wesentlich offener. Trotzdem glaubte Ricci, dass seine Gemeidegründungen in den Provinzen nicht sicher waren, wenn sie nicht von der Hauptstadt autorisiert waren.
Ricci in Nanchang
Als er 1595 erfolglos versucht sich in Nanking, die berühmte alte Hauptstadt im Süden von China, niederzulassen, konnte er dort eine christlichen Kirche gründen. Ricci verbrachte drei Jahre (von 1595 bis 1598) in Nanchang, eine Provinzhauptstadt (Jiangxi) im Südosten und schrieb seinen Freunden in Italien; “Nanchang hat saubere Straßen und ist mindestens zweimal so groß war, wie Florenz”. Nanchang war die Hauptstadt von von Kiang-si, welche auch viele gebildete gebildeten Männern hervorbrachte.
Ricci in Nanjing
Nanjing (Südliche Hauptstadt auch Nanking) war zeitweise, Hauptstadt des chinesischen Kaiserreichs in Ostchina.Nachdem Ricci 1595 in der alten Hauptstadt Nanking eingetroffen war, musste er zunächst wieder umkehren, ehe er sich 1598 dort dauerhaft niederlassen konnte. Nanjing ist die Stadt, in der sich Matteo Ricci und Xu Guangqi zum ersten Mal im Jahr 1600 trafen. Im Laufe der Zeit rücken Matteo Ricci immer deutlicher vom Buddhismus ab und vertauschten die buddhistischen Roben mit dem Gelehrtengewand der Konfuzianer. Ricci beginnt den Buddhismus scharf anzugreifen, was sich in öffentlichen Disputationen (Ricci gegen Sanhuai Xuelang 1599 in Nanjing) und Riccis Hauptwerk Tian zhu shi yi (Wahre Idee des Himmelsherrn) äußert – sehr zur Verwunderung der Chinesen, die gerade im Hinblick auf die beiderseitig erfolgreiche Begegnung mit dem Nestorianismus einige Jahrhunderte früher durchaus gerade geneigt waren, Ähnlichkeiten zwischen Christentum und Buddhismus zu sehen.
Ricci in Beijing
1601 gelangte er schließlich bis nach Peking und dort bald auch in die „Verbotene Stadt“, wo er als Botschafter der Europäer anerkannt und am kaiserlichen Hof als Mathematiker, Astronom und Kartograph tätig war. Er erstellte die erste Weltkarte, die China nicht als „Reich der Mitte“, sondern als Teil einer größeren Welt zeigte. Überdies erkannte Ricci die Bedeutung der Vermittlung europäischerWissenschaft (Mathematik, Astronomie, Geographie), der Technologie und der Künste (Malerei, Architektur, Holzschnitt) für den Dialog mit der Führungsschicht. Daher sind die Jesuitenmissionare vor allem als Mathematiker und Astronomen tätig. Neben diesem kartographischen Werk, das für China eine neue Weltsicht mit sich brachte, verfasste er zahlreiche weitere Schriften in Chinesisch, so einen Traktat über die Freundschaft und Abhandlungen über die Elemente der Geometrie und über die Agrikultur sowie mathematische und astronomische Schriften.
Das Hauptwerk (The true meaning of the lord of heaven)
In seinem Hauptwerk wurde der chinesische Philosoph Konfucius quasi von einem frühen, heidnischen Verkünder einer hochstehenden Ethik und Moral zu einem Monotheisten. In den alten konfuzianischen Büchern fand Ricci einen Urmonotheismus, während er den zeitgenössischen Konfuzianismus als rein säkulare Staatsphilosophie ansah. Chinesen konnten damit Konfuzianer und Christ zugleich sein, da Ricci ihnen die Teilnahme an den konfuzianischen Riten erlaubte, die nicht abergläubisch seien. Damit machte er die eigentlich fremde Religion des Christentums einigermassen kompatibel für die Chinesen. Andere Religionen Chinas lehnte er jedoch ab, so Buddhismus, Daoismus und den Neo-Konfuzianismus, denen er die “Verfälschung” des konfuzianischen Urmonotheismus zuschrieb.
Laying the foundation
Er wollte dem katholische “HQ” nachweisen, dass die christliche Lehre mit den besten Traditionen Chinas nicht nur kompatibel war, sondern ihre Erfüllung darstellte. Ricci praktizierte aber nicht nur eine äußerliche Anpassung an die Kultur, sondern hatte eine innere Interkulturalität im Auge, in der es zum wissenschaftlichen Austausch und zum geistigen Dialog kommt. Dies drückt sich in einem weiteren Element der Missionskonzeption aus, nämlich der indirekten Verbreitung des Glaubens durch Wissenschaft und Technologie, der seine Übersetzungen mathematischer Werke diente. Gegenüber diesem Konzept der Missionierung und Integration mit der kulturellen Traditionen des Landes setzte die römische Kongregation De Propaganda Fide seit ihrer Gründung 1622 mehr auf die Bildung von Gemeinden unter dem Volk.
The man of paradox
Sein zweitwichtigstes Buch das zu eient einem berühmten Schriftwechse führte. All diese Elemente einer Akkomodation kam auch in der Folgezeit zum Tragen und wurde von Gestalten wie Adam Schall von Bell und Ferdinand Verbiest weitergeführt, die Zugang zum Hof hatten. Sie waren insbesondere am Kaiserhof, wo sie sich durch ihre Kenntnis derWissenschaften unentbehrlich machten. Denn sie vermochten die für das chinesische Staatswesen wichtigen Sonnen- und Mondfinsternisse (Glücks- und Unglückstage) exakter zu berechnen und konnten so dartun, dass sie nicht nur vom irdischen Himmel und seiner Mechanik mehr verstanden, sondern auch vom „Herrn des Himmels“. Die Grundsätze der Chinamission der Jesuiten, also die „Akkomodation“ an die chinesische Kultur, die Evangelisierung von oben nach unten war damals gängige Praxis aber die die indirekte Glaubensverbreitung durch Wissenschaft wohl eher der Renaissance geschuldet der Kulturepoche, in der die sowohl klerikale wie säkulare Eliten an Naturwissenschaften hochinteressiert waren. Dieser Aspekt wird im Buch wenig behandelt, gerade die spannende Geschichte des Pekinger Observatoriums und seinen Nachfolgern (das Geschehen war ja auch nach seinem Tod – aber er schuf das Netzwerk).
Jesuit missionaries Matteo Ricci, Johann Adam Schall von Bell, and Ferdinand Verbiest served as court astronomers and mathematicians to Chinese Emperors. For over two centuries, they used the Beijing Ancient Observatory to introduce European astronomy and reform the Chinese calendar, which secured imperial protection for their Catholic Mission.The ancient observatory in Beijing China, once part of the city walls, is mounted on the battlements of a ten-meter watchtower close to the “First Ring”. As one of the oldest and famous observatories in the world, it covers an area of 10,000 square meters. The observatory dates back to Kublai Khan’s days when it was north of the present site, and Marco Polo writes:
There are in the city of Khanbalu…about five thousand astrologers and soothsayers… They have their astrolabes, upon which are described the planetary signs, the hours and their several aspects for the whole year… They write their predictions for the year upon for the year upon certain small squares… and these they sell, for a groat apiece, to all persons who are desirous of peeping into the future…
Likewise, the Ming and Qing Emperors relied heavily on astrologers before making a move. Therefore the present Beijing Observatory was built in 1437 to 1446, not only to facilitate astrological predictions but to aid seafaring navigators. Here a short overview:
The Jesuits
The Jesuits, scholars as well as proselytizers, found their way into the capital in 1601 when Matteo Ricci and company were permitted to work with Chinese scientists. The Emperor was keen to find out about European firearms and cannons from them.
The Jesuits outdid the resident Moslem calendar-setters and were given control of the observatory, becoming the Chinese court’s advisors. Of the eight bronze instruments on display (including an equatorial armillary sphere, celestial globe and altazimuth) six were designed and constructed under the supervision of the Belgian priest Ferdinand Verbiest, who came to China in 1659 to work at the Qing court. The instruments were built between 1669 and 1673, and are embellished with sculpted bronze dragons and other Chinese craftwork, a unique mix of east and west. The azimuth theodolite was supervised by Bernard Stumpf, also a missionary; the eighth instrument, the new armillary sphere, was completed in 1754. It’s not known which of the instruments on display are the originals.
The Ancient Observatory
Ancient Observatory, Beijing was known as the ‘Platform of Star Watching’ during the Ming Dynasty but later the name was changed to ‘Observatory’ during the Qing Dynasty. The name was further changed to ‘Central Observatory’ after the revolution of 1911. After its renovation in 1980, the Observatory has become the, ‘Beijing Ancient Astronomical Display Hall’. Records of astronomical observations run from 1442 to 1929, making it the record-holder for the longest period of continuous sky watching. The observatory was in use until 1929 and restored as a museum 2008(!). Today’s building stands alone, severed from the ancient Beijing city wall that Mao Zedong ordered destroyed to make way for the Second Ring Road. As a result, the observatory sits amidst a graceless jumble of modern buildings and highway overpasses, cloaked in the smog of China’s booming capital. Most would agree that the observatory has seen better days, but it still exists as an impressive and fascinating monument to the history of science in China. It can be reached by taxi and there is aclose underground station,. I directed the cab driver to the ancient observatory east of Tiananmen Square using a printout of the official web page in Chinese with the phone number because my Chinese is limited (non existent). Even then he had trouble to find the entry although from the avenue below, some of the various archaic instruments are clearly visible in the skyline.
This ancient pre-telescopic observatory, the most important in China, was first built in 1422 during the Ming Dynasty, around the same time as the Forbidden City. Covering an area of 10, 000 square meters, the Ancient Observatory of Beijing is one of the oldest Observatories in the world, situated in the southeast corner of Beijing’s Jianguomen Bridge. With more than five hundred years old history, Ancient Observatory is not only one of the oldest but also one of the most interesting historical observatories in the world. It is recognized for magnificence, unrivalled beautiful craftsmanship and best preserved instruments, some according the design of Thycho Brahe. Muslim scholars were also recruited and in the seventeenth century, the Jesuits, who were able to more accurately predict the eclipses, helped to further develop the observations of the stars and the planets. During the Boxer Rebellion, the instruments disappeared into the hands of the French and Germans. Some were returned in 1902, and others (good guess – the German parts) were returned after WWI, under the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles (1919).
The Instruments
Thycho Brahe instruments, the work of his life, became obsolete after the invention of the telescope and got burned, but in Beijing, one can still see them. This is the story, which is full of irony. Following the advice of Jesuit padre Joseph Adam Schall von Bell, a teacher of the heir to the emperor and political advisor of the emperor, the Chinese began to use western computation and measuring systems. Another Jesuit, Ferdinand Verbiest constructed the new instruments. According to some sources, he came out of prison, because Emperor Kang Xi wanted to hear his opinion to the calendar reform, proposed by the emperor’s Muslim court astronomer. In 1669, the Kangxi Emperor was informed that serious errors had been found in the calendar for 1670, which had been drawn up by Yang Guangxian. Kangxi commanded a public test to compare the merits of European and Chinese astronomy. The Jesuit, could outwit his competitor. The test was to predict three things: the length of the shadow thrown by a gnomon of a given height at noon of a certain day; the absolute and relative positions of the sun and the planets on a given date; and the exact time of an anticipated lunar eclipse. Verbiest had access to the latest updates on the Rudolphine Tables, done by Kepler with the inherited observations of Thycho Brahe. Ferdinand Verbiest succeeded therefore in all three tests, and was immediately installed as Head of the Mathematical Board and Director of the Observatory. Out of consideration for him, the exiled Jesuits were authorized to return to their missions. The old court astronomer was deposed, and Ferdinand Verbiest became responsible for calendar reform and this court observatory, which he remodelled then with European instruments.
Having resolved the issues surrounding the calendar, Verbiest went on to compose a table of all solar and lunar eclipses for the next 2000 years. Delighted with this, the emperor awarded him complete charge of the imperial astronomy observatory, which he rebuilt in 1673. The existing equipment was obsolete, so Verbiest consigned it to a museum and set about designing six new instruments, later, Kilian Stumpf designed other instruments, the new Armilla and the Azimuth Theodilite.
Altazimuth, used to measure the position of celestial bodies relative to the celestial horizon and the zenith – the altitude azimuth.
Celestial globe, six feet in diameter, used to map and identify celestial objects.
Ecliptic armilla, armillary sphere, six feet in diameter, used to measure the ecliptic longitude difference and latitudes of celestial bodies. (This was the traditional European device while the Chinese developed the equatorial armilla.)
Equatorial armilla, armillary sphere, six feet in diameter, used primarily for measuring true solar time as well as right ascension difference and declination of celestial bodies.
Quadrant Altazimuth, six feet in radius, for measuring altitudes or zenith distances of celestial bodies.
Sextant, eight feet in radius, used to measure the angle of elevation of a celestial object above the horizon. It is used to calculate the angle between two objects, although it is limited to 60 degrees of arc. In navigation, it is used to take a measure of the angle of the sun at noon to determine latitude.
The flat top, 14 meters (46 feet) high, is home to an amazing array of instruments, some originals and others replicas. Among the most interesting are those that were constructed under the direction of Jesuit astronomers residing in Beijing at the invitation of Qing emperors; designed to Western specifications with superficial Chinese ornamentation, the bronze instruments are examples of the first wave of modern-era scientific collaboration between China and the West. On entering the unassuming entrance of the observatory compound, one can see various sea-faring instruments at the courtyard, including an interesting sundial. In the courtyard of the museum, surrounded by ancient trees, the hall and east gate areas exhibit early astronomical instruments and the methods and changes in making them. In the western chamber some 150 early methods of calculating calendars in China are exhibited. Eight bronze astronomical instruments are arranged on the top of the platform, as per the Qing-dynasty emperor Qianlong’s instructions. One then enters a two storey museum which is a collection of pictures, write-ups and busts to show the ancient Chinese scientists and their various astronomical achievements and a replica of a Ming Dynasty gold foil map of the constellations. On climbing to the roof of the observatory, one is almost alone with those unique giant bronze instruments designed in the Qing Dynasty the celestial globe, dragon quadrant, elliptical armillary and azimuth theodolite by the Jesuits. With the completion of the present observatory, it has housed the replica instruments and served the Ming and Qing astronomers in their star-gazing reports, for the Emperor, the Son of Heaven, is closely tied up with the movements of the heavenly bodies. Considered as a milestone in Chinese architecture, Ancient Observatory, Beijing marks my cultural crossroads between the Orient I admire and the Western Catholizism roots which I admire in my way too (when it is lively, intellectual and strong).
