Decoding Newton’s Codex

The Temple Scientist – Decoding Newton’s Codex

I made a promise to write again about Newton and here I am.  Just few days ago I concluded my work – The Temple Scientist – (Published by Melchisedek – Milan).
I’m really glad for this, also because I think that with Newton I completed a quite complicated “scientific” excursus.  It hasn’t been an easy process to both understand and unveil his knowledge, but I guess my previous work, dedicated to Descartes, has been fundamental to pave the path for my studies of the English genius.

Why such an interest for him?

To show how science owes its birth, for the majority, to a knowledge that to define only as esoteric is quite ridiculous at this stage.  And Newton is the perfect example to support this claim.

He’s the author of the first book of classical physics of the history of humanity (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy or Principia) and he represented the typical image of the scientist ante-litteram, cold, detached, serious, unwilling to rely on any hypothesis, unless they could be tested by strict empiricism.

Basically for the history of science, he is the Science.

But (and here it gets interesting) in 1936 his image gets sadly and ultimately distorted, since, during one of the many auctions, organized by the Sotheby auction house, the so tormented personal documents (in truth just a small part of them) got finally bought by Lord Keynes (the famous economist) and by the Jewish Arabist A.S. Yahuda.  From then on dozens of biographers all over the world tried hard to link the dots and…understand.

What?

Simply why Isaac Newton wrote five millions and seven hundred thousands words by hand, of which one million and seven hundred were dedicated to science, one million to the study of the Apocalypse, the prophecies of Daniel, the Temple of King Solomon, the Prisca Sapientia (Sacred Wisdom) and the history of the Gentiles (without neglecting that of Judaism), and three millions words to…Alchemy.

Basically they wondered why the perfect scientist dedicated to science what seems to be only his spare time, in comparison to the other studies.

Few decades later, thanks to some enlightening biographies, like that of the American Betty Dobbs, a more in depth discussion on the role played by alchemy in Newtown’s mathematical breakthroughs began.

Primarily the question that mainstream researchers asked, which became the foundation of “The Newton Project” (a telematic project started in 1988 and still operating today) is the following:

“Assuming that there is a link between Newton’s interest in esoteric knowledge and the development of his scientific models, how all these topics could have merged to form a scientific work like that of the Principia?”  

I asked myself this question and I gave my answer.  Which one is it?

Well, start to read, but bear in mind that this is only a small part…we’ll talk about this again.

Temple of King Solomon – Floor map drawn by Isaac Newton

Pros and Cons

Before exploring how, it’s important to know who was Newton and which one was the foundation of his knowledge, which became clearer once his personal documents became publicly available.

Let’s start then with his relationship with the Divine.

Isaac Newton was a firm Puritan, who at some point of his life adhered to Arianism, becoming a sort of religious fundamentalist.

He hated the Holy Roman Church, contested the dogmas of Trinity and Homoousion, tolerated the Anglican Church and considered the bible the only book in which it was possible to read the word of God.  He actually considered the latter sacred in its true sense.

It was then for him Divine Providence, the modality through which God led his herd; in this context the Apocalypse was a Divine event which would have run over both the history of the earth and that of humanity in order to redeem them both.  An event that he saw as decipherable in the prophecies of Daniel and Ezekiel.

He believed the biblical exegesis to be law, and that despite the latest and acclaimed findings of philosophy (term used at the time to refer to the new born physics), he believed it deserved respect, being the modality through which the divine book could unveil the laws of creation, and creation was in its turn to be intended as a book to be read through the laws of nature.

He considered all the religions of his time as being corrupted by men and believed that only Judaism retained traces of sacredness – a sacredness which came from the most ancient expression of religion (The Prisca Theology), which identified the heavens and their laws with God.

The ancients regarded Heaven as a Temple, called Prytaneum – the place where God resided – which evolved into the Temple of King Solomon for the Jews.

Newton dedicated decades to the study of this Temple to outline its graphical representation, which is kept today by The Newton Project.

Having considered all these elements, it seems quite clear that Newton wouldn’t have excluded God from his personal, cognitive and scientific considerations.

Prisca Sapientia – Ancient Wisdom

He was convinced, until the day he died, that humanity experienced a golden era, not only on a spiritual level, as I was saying before, but especially in terms of knowledge.  He researched, read and studied, throughout his life, any type of text that could describe the Prisca Sapientia (Pristine Knowledge); a knowledge that would have contained the formula for all divine laws.

He was so sure about this to the point of claiming, throughout his life, that the ancients knew the law of gravity.

Alchemy

Newton owned what was possibly the most extensive collection of rare alchemical books ever, many of them regarding Rosicrucianism and Pythagoras.

It is said that he used to collect his post in Cambridge, from a tavern called The Rose and from there he used to travel to London to certain specialized bookshops.

He was client of William Cooper, a reseller of the rarest books that could be found in London; on the signboard of his shop there was the image of a pelican (particularly meaningful in the Rosicrucian symbolism).

Newton was introduced into the alchemical networks of London.  As it was usual for him, he dedicated a long period to studying and researching the theoretical aspects of this knowledge before actually experiencing the Sacred Art; only after he read, transcribed and learnt from any bibliographical material he could possibly reach, he began his path as an initiate.

For him Alchemy was a means through which it was possible to simulate the creative act; such act was directly linked to the spiritual level reached by the practitioner.

He also believed that all alchemical elements had a common source, which was a primeval type of matter, out of which everything was born; a matter purified from all impurities – analogous concept to that of the Philosopher Stone.

He also shared with other alchemists the belief that all “alchemical” processes involved the intervention of a Divine or Organic principle, able to attract or repel, according to the cases, the elements, which through Putrefaction, would coagulate in new forms decontaminated by any material imperfection.

He also believed that Light was the activator of any alchemical event and that it has within it the activating divine principle itself.

Philosophy/Physics

With regards to the scientific field, the hermit of Cambridge, since the University years, focused his interests and efforts in answering two main questions:

• What is matter made of?
• What is motion?

These questions, to which philosophy struggled to provide answers, were a motivation for his secret explorations of alchemy.

In the years 1665/6, which became known for their creativity, he reached incredible, but not ultimate results in his scientific research, particularly for his studies on light, infinitesimal calculus and gravity.

We can say that his achievements were also his merits, while as it concerns to his shortcomings, he was:

• Grumpy
• Envious
• Misogynist
• Stroppy
• Testy (however when he considered right to be so…often to advocate truth)

But primarily both his positive and negative traits made him…a man.

A man of such genius, that he was able to elaborate a sort of Theory of Everything – Alchemical/Celestial, in which from the history of humanity to that of the earth and the heavens, everything shared a divine imprint, defined, in different phases, as Divine Providence, Divine Spirit or…Gravity.

WHEN

In 1685, informed by Edmund Halley that both a great friend of him, the architect Christopher Wren, and a great enemy of him, Robert Hook shared the will to solve the question of gravity of celestial bodies (for which there was already an hypothesis of a force inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them), he came out of a self-imposed isolation to hand over to Halley himself, a treatise that was after a short time presented to the Royal Society.

De motu corporum in gyrum (“On the motion of bodies in an orbit”) was basically the premise of what he then collected in the Principia.

This work began to show extensively the greatness of his insights; especially with regards to decoding the force of gravity, problem that was here to great extent solved.

After decades in isolation, starting from one of the many discussions he had with Hook on the free fall of a weight from a tower in absence of air, while he expressed a wrong evaluation on the direction the object followed, he nevertheless grasped a fundamental factor in seeing in the elliptic shape the trajectory a weight follows under the influence of the force of gravity.

Same shape followed by the orbit of celestial bodies.

The convictions he gained through the study of alchemy, refrained up until then by Descartes’ Vortices law, which defined the ether as the means through which celestial bodies were carried around and kept at distance from the sun, found a supportive context.

A series of precise and meticulous experiments followed, which, through the careful evaluation of the movement of pendulums, in absence of air, and in assumed presence of ether, established how the space is not actually filled with ether, but rather absolutely empty.

Newton understood that:

THE CELESTIAL BODIES WERE ATTRACTED BY AN INVISIBLE FORCE YET PRESENT IN THE EMPTY SPACE

Basing his claims on experimentalism, he was able to hypothesize a celestial centripetal force, which coincided with the earth force of gravity, comparing this force with a Divine Will, similar to that very Organic Principle at the base of alchemical phenomena.

Following this analogy, he paired the seven main celestial bodies with the seven alchemical elements, while the Sun was identified with the Eighth celestial body paired with Magnesia, the eight alchemical element (known for its attractive feature).

Light represented instead the activator for both worlds in comparison (already One in Newton’s mind) – the microcosm of alchemical elements and macrocosm of the celestial bodies.

Light, which he already knew from his studies, could be subdivided in 7 colours, each with precise characteristics, which could merge in the white light, the Eight colour.  All these concepts were being formulated at least two years prior the publication of the Principia.

WHERE

At this stage the two worlds (the scientific and the alchemical) were ready to be merged with the religious essence of the prytaneum, which saw any temple as a site built around a centre with a sacred fire.  This centre/fire attracted worshippers around like a mini solar system.  And because for Newton the Temple of Solomon was the ultimate sacred temple, and also due for his conviction in the wisdom of the ancients, he even learnt Hebrew in order to produce a floor plan as accurate as possible, according to the biblical descriptions.

For him this was a very useful passage in order to find validations to his scientific claims.

Together with the Temple, Newton’s worlds now become three.

WHY

This passage is important for those who want to understand the “how” of Newton.

It’s right to say that in the Principia he fused Galileo and Descartes’ discoveries to postulate that Kepler’s laws of planetary motions (specifically the 3^rd one) were possible because of a force, as we said, centripetal or gravitational, shared by all celestial systems.

He also established, through a series of lengthy mathematical and geometrical demonstrations, exposed in the first book of the Principia, that this force, as hypothesized, was inversely proportional to the square (2) of the distance between them.

All this was achieved with very little use of calculus, a terrific tool if he used it to compute elliptic areas, like those covered by the movements of the planets.

In summary his fundamental work was founded on two sets of numerical information;

The first one, from Kepler states the following:

THE SQUARE OF THE ORBITAL PERIOD OF A PLANET IS PROPORTIONAL TO THE CUBE OF THE SEMI-MAJOR AXIS OF ITS ORBIT.

Therefore this law, in numerical sense could be synthesized, as Newton did, in a very precise numerical interval, which is:

2/3

The other one from Newton himself (as described above) could be synthesized using the number:

2

Now, as the Third Law of Kepler is explicable through the law of gravity itself, I believe that the numerical synthesis that comes up is the following:

2-2/3

WHEN – WHERE – WHY

Now I’d like to intervene amongst this information, and I would like that from now on you also start to do the same.

It would be useful to observe the Temple floor plan that he formulated.  I think that the first thing that you all can notice is the predominant shape of a SQUARE.

If that site is a compendium of divine forces, we can then consider as “normal” that the same forces are contained within the square, right?

Especially in the small square at the centre, where the sacred fire would burn and where any Jewish religious event would take place.

Hence it’s that tiny space which is able to attract all the worshippers around.

I’m tempted to say that its FORCE is inversely proportioned to its dimension that, as mentioned before, is SQUARE.

And isn’t this the fundamental concept of the law of gravity?

Now I’d like to draw your attention to the entrance “doors” of the temple, indicated with letters by Newton (S:H:H – M;L;N); they’re 3, right? And they’re repeated 2 times, correct?

And with these two passages we already have the basic numbers contained in the scientific studies and proofs exposed in the Principia.

And do you think that a numerologist like Newton, certain that what he was examining (and examined for decades) was basically the book of the laws of nature, wasn’t aware of this analogy?

We can now easily assume that, due to his religious and “non formal” studies, the Book of His Life, his Great Work, secretly could have been the perfect place where to “host the Temple”, fusing all his knowledge, official and non official, in the name of God.  And that’s what he did.

THE HOW

I would like now to invite you to sit comfortably with a pencil, ready to underline numbers and numerical words, with the sole purpose of understanding what allowed him to merge all his knowledge.

I would begin with some alchemical excerpts:

“…or after the 2 precipitants stopped in Chaos. And note that this Chaos has to be done with the 2 reguluses of Mars etc….and the cold fire fermented with 2 dragons for 10, 20 days until the green appears out of distillation…the third (3) fire of (erased word) the third (3) fire of (erased word) the third (3) fire of Artephius in which there’s a double (2) substance of quicksilver etc”.

“The ferment best works when it’s new and looses its virtue in 2 or 3 days”

“Ferment and digest the Living Mercury for 20 or 30 days etc.”

“3 metals salts digested for 2 days”

To this I would add some passages from The Book of Kings:

²The temple built by King Solomon for the Lord was sixty (20x30) cubits in length, twenty (20) in width, thirty (30) cubits in height etc.

²⁰The Sacrarium was twenty (20) cubits in length, twenty (20) in width and twenty (20) cubits in height…he covered it in pure gold and he built an altar in cedar upon it…

⁴¹the two (2) columns, the globes above the columns, the two (2) lattices to cover the two (2) globes above the columns

²⁰He then measured the length and the width of the door facing north and leading to the outer courtyard.

²¹Three rooms (3) from one side and three (3) from the other (Ezekiel)

Let’s then observe the modality he used to describe the Quantity of Matter in the 8 definitions of the Principia

“Thus air of double density, in a double space, is quadruple in quantity; in a triple space, sextuple in quantity (2x 2/3)”.

The same used to describe the Quantity of Motion:

“The motion of the whole is the sum of the motion of all its parts; and therefore in a body double in quantity, with equal velocity, the motion is double, with twice the velocity, it is quadruple”.

(From which it was deduced that with triple the quantity of motion, the velocity must have been sextuple – 2x 2/3)

also observable in the Second Law of Motion

“…If any force generates a motion, a double force (2) will generate double the motion (2), a triple force (3) triple the motion (3), whether that force is impressed altogether and at once or gradually and successively….”

To this it is possible to associate:

“Bring the body A to any point R of the arc EAF, and (withdrawing the body B) let it go from thence, and after one oscillation suppose it to return to the point V: then RV will be the retardation arising from the resistance of the air. Of this RV let ST be a fourth part, situated in the middle, to wit, so as RS and TV may be equal, and RS may be to ST as 3 to 2 etc.”

A lot more similar excerpts could be added and I invite you to carry on the research and go directly to the sources of all I’ve cited which are T.N.P., the Book of Kings and the Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica all available and downloadable on the web.

The bottom line of this article is to highlight something that biographers and researchers have missed to notice, which is a small group of numbers, that independently from the field of knowledge in which they’re applied, they have been representing God for millennia.

A God identifiable by a legendary numerical interval (2/3) out of which everything was and is obtainable, including a Temple.

As last suggestion, I’d like you to notice the particular subdivision of the main work of Newton (Principia).  It included:

8 Definitions
3 Laws of Motion
(to which other 3 books were linked to certify the initial postulates)

Newton knew very well, as he was Lucasian Professor, that the number 8 could be algebraically represented as 2³.

Therefore the subdivision of his work can be intended as follows:

2/3 Definitions
3 Laws
3 Books

And now to really understand who Isaac Newton was, let’s have a look at the leaves in this Rosicrucian symbol

Probably if you carry on counting the elements of this symbol you might find all the fundamental elements used to build the Temple, the same elements that someone inscribed, some millennia ago, on a list, famous for its…8 Kings.

Same list that it’s kept today in a very famous museum in London, due to the forward-looking donation of a certain Elias Ashmole, who had a lot in common with Newton.

But this is another story…or not.

________________________

Translated by: Gennaro Ambrosino
(Note: the cover image at the top is only a graphical adaptation of the Italian edition of the book – no English version is currently available)