The Sleepwalkers (121 page)

But
it
was
Kepler
himself
who
found
the
correct
solution,
toward
the
end
of
his
life:
it
is
his
Third
Law.
In
the
second
edition
of
the
Mysterium
,
he
added
a
Note
to
the
phrase,
"Oh,
that
we
could
live
to
see
the
day..."
It
reads:

"We
have
lived
to
see
this
day
after
twenty-two
years
and
rejoiced
in
it,
at
least
I
did;
I
trust
that
Maestlin
and
many
other
men
...
will
share
in
my
joy."
¹⁵

The
closing
chapter
of
the
Mysterium
is
a
return
to
the
medieval
shore
of
the
Keplerian
torrent
of
thought.
It
is
described
as
"the
dessert
after
this
substantial
meal",
and
concerns
the
constellations
of
the
sky
on
the
first
and
last
days
of
the
world.
We
are
given
a
fairly
promising
horoscope
for
the
Creation
–
which
started
on
Sunday,
27
April,
4977
B.C.;
but
about
the
last
day
Kepler
says
modestly:
"I
did
not
find
it
possible
to
deduce
an
end
of
the
motions
from
inherent
reasons."

On
this
childish
note
ends
Kepler's
first
book,
the
dream
of
five
perfect
solids
determining
the
scheme
of
the
universe.
The
history
of
thought
knows
many
barren
truths
and
fertile
errors.
Kepler's
error
turned
out
to
be
of
immense
fertility.
"The
direction
of
my
whole
life,
of
my
studies
and
works,
has
been
determined
by
this
one
little
book,"
he
wrote
a
quarter-century
later.
¹⁶
"For
nearly
all
the
books
on
astronomy
which
I
have
published
since
then
were
related
to
one
or
the
other
of
the
main
chapters
in
this
little
book
and
are
more
thorough
expositions
or
completions
of
it."
¹⁷
Yet
he
also
had
an
inkling
of
the
paradoxical
nature
of
all
this,
for
he
added:

"The
roads
by
which
men
arrive
at
their
insights
into
celestial
matters
seem
to
me
almost
as
worthy
of
wonder
as
those
matters
in
themselves."
¹⁸

3.
Back to Pythagoras

One
crucial
question
was
left
unexplained
in
the
previous
chapters.
What
exactly
was
it
that
so
forcefully
attracted
Kepler,
when
he
was
still
a
student
of
theology,
to
the
Copernican
universe?
In
his
self-analysis
he
expressly
stated
that
it
was
not
interest
in
astronomy
proper,
that
he
was
converted
"by
physical,
or
if
you
prefer,
metaphysical
reasons";
and
he
repeats
this
statement
almost
verbatim
in
the
preface
to
the
Mysterium.
These
"physical
or
metaphysical
reasons"
he
explains
differently
in
different
passages;
but
the
gist
of
them
is,
that
the
sun
must
be
in
the
centre
of
the
world
because
he
is
the
symbol
of
God
the
Father,
the
source
of
light
and
heat,
the
generator
of
the
force
which
drives
the
planets
in
their
orbits,
and
because
a
sun-centred
universe
is
geometrically
simpler
and
more
satisfactory.
These
seem
to
be
four
different
reasons,
but
they
form
a
single,
indivisible
complex
in
Kepler's
mind,
a
new
Pythagorean
synthesis
of
mysticism
and
science.

We
remember
that
to
the
Pythagoreans
and
Plato
the
animating
force
of
the
deity
radiated
from
the
centre
of
the
world
outward,
until
Aristotle
banished
the
First
Mover
to
the
periphery
of
the
universe.
In
the
Copernican
system,
the
sun
again
occupied
the
place
of
the
Pythagorean
Central
Fire,
but
God
remained
outside,
and
the
sun
had
neither
divine
attributes,
nor
any
physical
influence
on
the
motions
of
the
planets.
In
Kepler's
universe,
all
mystic
attributes
and
physical
powers
are
centralized
in
the
sun,
and
the
First
Mover
is
returned
to
the
focal
position
where
he
belongs.
The
visible
universe
is
the
symbol
and
"signature"
of
the
Holy
Trinity:
the
sun
represents
the
Father,
the
sphere
of
the
fixed
stars
the
Son,
the
invisible
forces
which,
emanating
from
the
Father,
act
through
interstellar
space,
represent
the
Holy
Ghost:

"The
sun
in
the
middle
of
the
moving
stars,
himself
at
rest
and
yet
the
source
of
motion,
carries
the
image
of
God
the
Father
and
Creator...
He
distributes
his
motive
force
through
a
medium
which
contains
the
moving
bodies
even
as
the
Father
creates
through
the
Holy
Ghost."
¹⁹