Lucretius' Prescience--Part 2

Greenblatt chronicles the miraculous rediscovery of Lucretius’ tome On the Nature of Things, 15 centuries after he wrote it—literally pointing humanity once again in the direction of truth. It blows my mind when I think about how much more knowledge we could have today about the reality of the universe, if not all this time had been lost.

Not all of Lucretius’ theories of the workings of nature were accurate. For example, his ideas on vision were quite off base, but his descriptions of the basic properties of matter are astonishingly on target.  

Several Lucretius’ theories on spirituality remain controversial. They touch on concepts such as the nature of the soul, the existence of an afterlife, the nature of free will, and the influence of organized religions in the world. These ideas were what brought him into disfavor with both the religious beliefs of Greece and Rome in his time, as well as those of Christianity that followed. In fact, I think that some of these postulates may never be proven right or wrong, since they tread into the realm of the supernatural.

So let’s stick to the natural world, and to the theories he proposed, that science has subsequently verified—to demonstrate how prescient his insights were:

1.    Everything is made of an uncountable number of “invisible particles.” (He tended to avoid the word “atom.”)

2.    These particles are limited in their variety (sort of like just so many kinds of Legos blocks or letters of the alphabet) and each kind will combine with only a limited type of others (just as there are only so many letter combinations that make useful sounds).

3.    The particles are capable of forming an unlimited number of material objects (just as we can form an unlimited number of words from a limited alphabet).

4.    The particles (i.e., atoms) are eternal, but the things they form are constantly coming into being and then disintegrating (just as a tree or person is born and then later dies and decomposes back into their constituent atoms). These first four ideas correspond very closely to chemistry, as we understand it today.

5.    Nature ceaselessly experiments and, in the process, creates some living beings or plants that will quickly perish and others that will succeed and endure. This is an ancient insight into the process of evolution.

6.    Humans are not unique. We are much like any other animal. We have awakened to this truth only in the last few decades.

7.    Our early human ancestors lived a difficult life. They struggled to survive and did so primarily by cooperating with one another.

8.    Humans today are different from long ago. We are constantly changing and evolving.

All these ideas were described in a very long poem—over 2000 years ago! How could anyone have conceived of such an accurate picture of reality that long ago? I have a suggestion that I cannot prove, but seems logical to me: The truth about the nature of the universe and the details of how things are, exist independent of the human mind; they don’t just sit around, ever since the Big Bang, waiting for us to uncover them or for us to draw up laws that explain them. The universe just is; and we slowly discover its qualities.

It’s as if there is a conscious ether that permeates all space and contains the complete truth of everything. Some people might call it the mind of God, but I wish to avoid the inevitable and controversial dogma that follows such a call. I prefer to view it simply as an unnamable, inconceivable cloud of knowing that the human mind is capable of tapping into, either by dint of spiritual maturity (through plain, hard work) or by grace. In any case, our individual consciousness is, I think, capable of connecting to and getting glimpses of the truth from this universal consciousness. It is as if it was The Complete Book of Knowledge, just waiting for us to wake up and explore. We don’t create it or formulate it; we simply tune into it.

From time to time, we can receive insights and ideas from this ultimate-knowledge reservoir. When we “discover” something, we are often inclined to think that these ideas are ours, that we own and created them—when in fact, they’ve been around all along. It’s the only explanation I can come up with for Lucretius’ fantastic insights as to the reality of the universe: On the Nature of Things. Whatever the truth is, it's an amazing accomplishment.