Beyond Newton, Part 7.
It’s an iconic image, one that is displayed on one of the most famous album cover of all time to coffee mugs to, well, just about anything. It’s the image of a ray of white light being directed through a prism with the result that we can see the spectrum. A rainbow by any other name.
From our science lessons at school and with reminders just about everywhere, there’s little escape from the truth that Newton demonstrated. Today’s post is going to look at Newton’s spectrum from a slightly different angle, one that impinges on the whole of accepted science. Because I don’t want to look at the spectrum itself, but why scientists accept it as the truth in the face of Goethe’s scientific revelations.
There is an essential difference between seeing something that everybody in the room can see and looking at something through the prism oneself. I will have to make it clear that Newton’s experiment can be seen by all present. Goethe’s experiment looks at a black and white card through the prism to see the red and blue spectra, depending as to which way one turns the card. The photo below shows both spectra because the card is divided into four, coloured black and white alternately. Seen through the prism you will see the red spectrum on the one side and the blue on the other.
The point here is that one has to do this for oneself, one has to hold the prism in your hands, find the angle at which you can see the black and white card and see for yourself the effect. Which is a very important issue in our modern age: you have to see this for yourself and make up your own mind as to what is going on. It is thus subjective.
And the subjective in modern science is anathema. If it is subjective, it is worthless. Only the objective has value: only that which can be seen by all who are present at the same time has any value. Now you could build a huge prism that all who are present in the room could witness the two spectra for themselves at the same time – but I don’t know of a scientist who has thought to do this. After all, the father of modern science has spoken and that is an end to the matter.
This means they are happy to build gigantic and incredibly expensive particle accelerators, but then, they all agreed to do this, so it’s no single person’s fault if it goes wrong. Then they all agreed that it worked because one of them managed to squeeze the data through one or other statistical formula to find that there is a likelihood that the Higg’s Boson does actually exist. Objectivity enough, don’t you think?
Back to spectra; with Newton’s experiment, it is actually the case that each person in the room actually sees a slightly different spectrum on account – this was explained in an earlier post where I looked at the rainbow formed in a scattering of droplets (Part 5). Modern scientists haven’t thought of this angle. Mind you, who needs to when their boss has told them what to believe.
So here we have a gathering of scientists all of whom say they are right because they are seeing the same effect, even if they each see a slightly different projection of that effect. This last bit is left out because they haven’t thought about it that hard. Well, that’s modern science for you. They’ll think hard, but they will only think hard in the ways that they already think. Anything else is usually dismissed as being subjective. In terms of psychology, this is another expression of the comfort zone. A person is willing to work extremely hard just as long as it is within their capacity to imagine. Then anything goes, real or illusory. But that’s for another post to explore.
When you get to know how the comfort zone works, anyone who supports it will always tell you that they can be certain of the things they know because someone else knows it too. Should anybody question this, you will be referred to a higher authority. Like Mr Newton.
The comfort zone is comfortable because it means you don’t have to make a decision that might interfere with your own comfort. That is to say, you don’t have to deal with awkward situations like making your own mind up what colour to paint your living room. You’ll paint it the same as everyone else.
In terms of scientific research this will inevitably lead to problems. Such as Mr. von Goethe who raised a few awkward points; but he was dealt with in the customary manner of those embedded – and there is no better word to describe the situation – embedded in their comfort zone. That is to say, he was ignored and then having been ignored for long enough, forgotten. Having been forgotten, his objections weren’t even thought of. Psychological safety in three generations.
The point of this post is to say that people prefer to believe in the observational world because it means they don’t have to decide for themselves. Make decisions for themselves. Which is fair enough. But then, even amongst scientists there are people who prefer coffee to tea, beer to wine. But of course, that doesn’t count because that’s not science.
But then, in our day and age, science isn’t either.
Other Posts In This Series:
Part 1: Experiencing Time First Hand.
Part 2: All Hard Drives Look Alike.
Part 3: What Ahriman Wants. (Published privately).
Part 4: Stirring Horn Silica.
Part 5: A Horn Silica Rainbow.
Part 6: Messed Up Beans. (Published privately).
Part 7: Newton’s Rainbow.
Part 8: Untangling The Astral And The Etheric. (Published privately).
Part 9: How To Count Water.
Please note that privately published posts are available to trusted friends without cost. The content is not intended for the general public and is restricted to those who can demonstrate that they understand the nature – and implications of – Rudolf Steiner’s scientific thinking. It is not for the unready.
In certain circumstances, pdfs of these posts are available on request; you may do so by leaving a comment. This will tell me if you can grasp the nature of the post you are enquiring about. The comment itself can be left unmoderated or deleted if requested.