PHYSICAL AND MENTAL WELFARE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 291, 9 December 1939, Page 6

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL WELFARE

— RELIGION AND SCIENCE 3. By Sir Richard Gregory, F.R.S., President of the British Association) ;

Dear People. The Greeks appear io have obtained I from the Babylonians the greater part I of their knowledge of astronomx. Ini the sixth century before the Christian : era (about 2500 years ago) the i philosophers Xenophanes. Thales and. Pythagoras first opened up those vein' | of speculative philosophy (partly re-> Jigion, partly science) which afterwards occupied so large a proportion ’ of Greek intellectual energy. Grote. I in “History of Greece.” points out I That they were the first to disenthral i the philosophic intellect from an all- • personifying religious faith, and to ■ constitute a method of interpreting. Nature distinct from the spontaneous inspiration of untaught minds. It is in j their works that we first find the idea . of Person tacitly set aside or limited, i and an impersonal Nature conceived ’ as a subject of study. The Greek . word, phusis, denoting ’‘nature’, and] its derivatives "physics” and "Physiology” first appeared in their time. 2400 Years Ago. Among the astronomical knowledge taken over by the Greeks from Meso- ; potamia were the asterisms, —the j knowledge of the planets and their ; courses, and a method of predicting • eclipses by means of the saros.a period of eighteen years and eleven days. Some of this knowledge has descended 1O the Chaldeans, from whom it ultimately came to the Roman world. The most renowned Greek poem on astronomy is the "Phenomena” of . Aratus <270 8.C.». w ho transmitted in I verse the astronomical knowledge of j Eudoxus of Cnidus <4OO 8.C.). Aiatu* was esteemed by both Christian and i pagan philosophers The Apostle Pau.l , Feed in the midst of later Greek . civilisation, and was familiar with ; Hellenistic literature and philospohy. j Ist Centun. A.I). During his second mi»ioiiai\ tour. ■ Paul came to Athens, where "certain ; philosophers of the epicureans, and of ( the Stoics, encountered him: and; Paul spoke to them of the new re-, ligion. Christianity, from the midst of. >fers’ Hill, quoting in his address th' I scientific beliefs versed by Aratus Here are his words, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. XVII, 22-28: Ye men of Athens. I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by. and beheld your devotions. I found an altar with the

inscription. To the Unknown Gon. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship. Him I declare unto you. God 1 hat made the world and ail things. r-.n. seeing that He is Lord of | heaven and earth, dwelleth not in, t-mples made with hands: neither is | worshipped ith mens hands, as I thou He needed anything, seeing He ■ c-iveth to all. life, and breath, and ah ■ things; and hath made of one blood I all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times befoie appointed, and the bounds of their ■ habitation; that they should seek the . Lord, if haply they might feel after Him. and find Him. though He be not far from every one of us; for in Him we live and move and have outbeing; as certain also of our own poets have said, for we are also His offspring. Scientific Religion. There is no doubt that the poet to whom St. Paul particularly referred was Aratus. The latter was, like St. Paul himself, a native of Cilicia, though he lived three centuries earlier. As the scientific poem of Aratus was classic among the Greeks. St. Paul’s audience could not fail to bp impressed by his quotation from it. end the spirit of the exhortations is clearly identical: Let us begin from God. Let every mortal raise His grateful voice to tune God’s endless praise. God fills the heaven, the earth, the sea, the air: We feel His spirit moving here, and everywhere; And we His offspring are. He. ever •good. Daily provides for man his daily food: Ordains the seasons by His signs on high. Studding with gems of light the azure canopy; What time with plough and spade to break the soil,

That plenteous store may mess iw reaper's toil; What time to plant and prune the vine He shows, And hangs the purple cluster on its houghs. To Him the First, the Las’ ail homage yield: Our Father Wonderful, our Help, our Shield: Universal Belief. Aratus described twenty constellations north of the celestial equator, and twelve constellations along the zodiac, and twelve south of the celestial equator, making forty-four in all. The poem is purely a didactic picture of the division of the heavens into regions represented in stories of Gieel. mythology: yet for half a dozen centuries its influence upon later writers and philosophers was immense. V> e have in the exhortation of Aratus the evidence of a deeply religious spirit, resulting in the dedication of a poem Which was otherwise of a purely scientific character, to the "Father of us all". Belief in the existence of such an Omniscient Power behind the universe as He to Whom Aratus dedicated his poem, or as the God whom St. Paul declared to the Athenians. >s universal, if religion be understood in its broadest sense as belief in a Spiritual Being, it may be said that prolonged enquiry has so far failed to show any authenticated instance of a people, however backward, which has not held to some form of belief which, although vague and rudimentary, can be deemed religious. I Liberty of Thought. When early Greek philosophers began to speculate upon the nature | |of the universe and the meaning 01 life, they founded the principle of intellectual freedom essential for the advance of science, literature, and all ’other aspects of civilised culture. I They established the most precious iheritage of the human race; and to their spirit of liberty of thought in enquiring into all things sacred, social or political—untrammelled by authority European science, philosophy and religion owe their chief debt. Many ot their speculations may seen crude in the light of modern knowledge: but they were at any rate courageous

attempts to apply reason to the solution of problems presented lo the mind of man: and some of the theories advanced in those early days have proved to be of fundamental significance. Truth Against the World! It is true that because Anaxagoras taught that the sun was a mass of flaming matter, he had to leave Athens to save himself from death; and that Protagoras died when fleeing from Athens after he had been convicted of socalled blasphemy. Yet there was no organised repression of liberty or thought in Greece. Personal or political reasons were the causes of condemnation for impiety or for disturbing teachings, etc. It was because Socrates would not cease to corrupt the young” (!) and to invite public discussion of his philosophy of life, that he was condemned to die. Rather than be untrue to his convictions, he accepted death, and he justified his attitude in words vibrant with exalted principle: If you propose to acquit me on condition that I abandon my search lot truth. I will say: I thank you, C Athenians, but I will obey God Who. as I believe, set me this task, rather than you; and so long as I have breath and strength I will never cease my occupation with philosophy. I wil continue the practice of accosting whomsoever I meet and saying to him "Are you not ashamed of setting youi heart on wealth and honours, while you have no care for wisdom anc truth and for making your sou better?” I know not what death is—it may be a good thing and I am no’ afraid of it. But I do know that it ia bad thing to desert one’s post, anc 1 prefer what may be good to what - know to be bad. (To be continued.)