The Sleepwalkers (26 page)

This
splitting-up
of
the
universe
into
two
regions,
the
one
lowly,
the
other
exalted,
the
one
subject
to
change,
the
other
not,
was
to
become
another
basic
doctrine
of
mediaeval
philosophy
and
cosmology.
It
brought
a
serene,
cosmic
reassurance
to
a
frightened
world
by
asserting
its
essential
stability
and
permanence,
but
without
going
so
far
as
to
pretend
that
all
change
was
mere
illusion,
without
denying
the
reality
of
growth
and
decline,
generation
and
destruction.
It
was
not
a
reconciliation
of
the
temporal
and
the
eternal,
merely
a
confrontation
of
the
two;
but
to
be
able
to
take
in
both
in
one
glance,
as
it
were,
was
something
of
a
comfort.

The
division
was
made
intellectually
more
satisfactory
and
easier
to
grasp,
by
assigning
to
the
two
parts
of
the
universe
different
raw
materials
and
different
motions.
In
the
sub-lunary
region,
all
matter
consisted
of
various
combinations
of
the
four
elements,
earth,
water,
air
and
fire,
which
themselves
were
combinations
of
two
pairs
of
opposites,
hot
and
cold,
dry
and
wet.
The
nature
of
these
elements
requires
that
they
move
in
straight
lines:
earth
downward,
fire
upward,
air
and
water
horizontally.
The
atmosphere
fills
the
whole
sub-lunary
sphere,
though
its
upper
reaches
consist
not
of
proper
air,
but
of
a
substance
which,
if
set
in
motion,
will
burn
and
produce
comets
and
meteors.
The
four
elements
are
constantly
being
transformed
one
into
the
other,
and
therein
lies
the
essence
of
all
change.

But
we
go
beyond
the
moon's
sphere,
nothing
changes,
and
none
of
the
four
terrestrial
elements
is
present.
The
heavenly
bodies
consist
of
a
different,
pure
and
immutable
"fifth
element",
which
becomes
the
purer
the
farther
away
from
the
earth.
The
natural
motion
of
the
fifth
element,
as
opposed
to
the
four
earthly
elements,
is
circular,
because
the
sphere
is
the
only
perfect
form,
and
circular
motion
is
the
only
perfect
motion.
Circular
motion
has
no
beginning
and
no
end;
it
returns
into
itself
and
goes
on
forever:
it
is
motion
without
change.

The
system
had
yet
another
advantage.
It
was
a
compromise
between
two
opposite
trends
in
philosophy.
On
the
one
side
there
was
the
"materialistic"
trend,
which
had
started
with
the
Ionians,
and
was
continued
by
men
like
Anaxagoras,
who
believed
that
homo
sapiens
owed
his
superiority
to
the
dexterity
of
his
hand;
by
Heraklitus,
who
regarded
the
universe
as
a
product
of
dynamic
forces
in
eternal
flux;
and
culminated
in
Leucippus
and
Democritus,
the
first
atomists.
The
opposite
tendency,
which
originated
with
the
Eleatics,
found
its
extreme
expression
in
Parmenides,
who
taught
that
all
apparent
change,
evolution
and
decline,
were
illusions
of
the
senses,
because
whatever
exists
cannot
arise
from
anything
that
does
not,
or
is
different
from
it;
and
that
the
Reality
behind
the
illusion
is
indivisible,
unchangeable,
and
in
a
state
of
static
perfection.
Thus,
for
Heraklitus
Reality
is
a
continuous
process
of
Change
and
Becoming,
a
world
of
dynamic
stresses,
of
creative
tensions
between
opposites;
whereas
for
Parmenides
Reality
is
a
solid,
uncreated,
eternal,
motionless,
changeless,
uniform
sphere.
¹³

The
preceding
paragraph
is,
of
course,
a
woeful
oversimplification
of
developments
in
one
of
the
liveliest
periods
of
philosophic
debate;
but
my
purpose
is
merely
to
show
how
neatly
the
Aristotelian
model
of
the
universe
solved
the
basic
dilemma
by
handing
over
the
sub-lunary
region
to
the
Materialists,
and
letting
it
be
governed
by
Heraklitus'
motto
"all
is
change";
whereas
the
rest
of
the
universe,
eternal
and
immutable,
stood
in
the
sign
of
the
Parmenidian
"nothing
ever
changes".

Once
again,
it
was
not
a
reconciliation,
merely
a
juxtaposition,
of
two
world-views,
or
"world-feelings",
both
of
which
have
a
profound
appeal
to
the
minds
of
men.
This
appeal
was
increased
in
power
when,
at
a
later
stage,
mere
juxtaposition
yielded
to
gradation
between
the
opposites;
when
the
original
Aristotelian
two-storey
universe
–
all
basement
and
loft
–
was
superseded
by
an
elaborately
graded,
multi-storeyed
structure;
a
cosmic
hierarchy
where
every
object
and
creature
had
its
exact
"place"
assigned
to
it,
because
its
position
in
the
many-layered
space
between
lowly
earth
and
high
heaven
defined
its
rank
on
the
Scale
of
Values,
in
the
Chain
of
Being.
We
shall
see
that
this
.concept
of
a
closed-in
cosmos
graded
like
the
Civil
Service
(except
that
there
was
no
advancement,
only
demotion)
survived
for
nearly
a
millennium
and
a
half.
It
was
really
a
Mandarin
Universe.
During
these
long
centuries,
European
thought
had
more
in
common
with
Chinese
or
Indian
philosophy
than
with
its
own
past
and
future.