IV.
ETERNITY AND THE INFINITE
What was that? Could it be true? Another universe was coming down to us!Millions and millions of suns grouped together were floating about likea celestial archipelago, and as we flew toward them they spreadthemselves out like a limitless cloud of stars. I looked about me on allsides, trying to pierce the depths of boundless space, and saw similarclusters of twinkling stars scattered about in all directions, atvarious distances.
The new universe which we were entering was made up principally of red,ruby, and garnet suns. Many of them were absolutely blood-red.
It was like going through a magnificent display of lightning. We spedswiftly from sun to sun; but incessant electrical commotions like theflashes of an aurora-borealis assailed us on all sides. What strangeabiding-places worlds lighted solely by red suns must be! Then, too, wesaw in one section of this universe a secondary group, composed of greatnumbers of rose-colored and blue stars. Suddenly an enormous comet,whose head was like some monster's open jaws, rushed upon and envelopedus. I clung terror-stricken to my goddess's side, who was for a momenthidden from me by a luminous haze. We were soon in a dark desert again,for the second universe, like the first, was now far away.
* * * * *
"Creation," she said, "comprises an infinite number of distinct worlds,separated from each other by abysses of vacancy."
"An _infinite_ number?"
"A mathematical objection," she answered. "Doubtless, no matter howgreat a number may be, it cannot be actually infinite, since by thoughtone can always increase by a unit, or even double, treble, centuple it.But remember that the present is but a door through which the futurerushes to the past. Eternity is endless, and the number of the worldswill be like it, without end."
"Look! You still see, always and on all sides, new celestialarchipelagoes,--new worlds everywhere."
"It seems to me, O Urania! that we have been ascending toward theboundless heavens for a long time, and at very great speed."
"We could rise like this forever," she answered, "and never reach adefinite limit.
"We could be wafted about yonder to right, to left; forward, backward;above, below,--in no matter what direction, but never anywhere should wefind any confines.
"Never, never any end!
"Do you know where we are? Do you know how we reached here?
"We are--on the threshold of the infinite, as we were when on the Earth._We have not advanced one step!_"
* * * * *
A deep emotion had taken possession of my mind. Urania's last words hadpierced my very marrow like an icy chill. "Never any end--never!never," I repeated; I could think or speak of nothing else. But stillthe magnificence of the spectacle appealed to my eyes, and my feeling ofannihilation gave place to enthusiasm.
"Astronomy," I cried, "is everything! To know these things, to live inthe infinite,--oh, Urania! what are other human ideas compared withscience? Shadows, phantoms!"
"Oh! you will wake up again upon the Earth," she said; "you will admire,and rightly too, the wisdom of your masters. But understand this,--theastronomy of your schools and observatories, mathematical astronomy, thebeautiful science as known to Newton, Laplace, Le Verrier, is not yetdefinite, actual knowledge.
"That, O my son! is not the end which I have pursued since the days ofHipparchus and Ptolemy. Look at the thousands of suns analogous to thatwhich gives life to the earth, which like it are sources of light,motion, activity, and splendor! Ah! that is the object of the science tocome,--the study of universal and eternal life. Until now, no one hasever entered the temple. Figures are not an end, but a means; they donot represent Nature's structure, only the methods, the scaffoldings.You are to see the dawn of a new day. Mathematical astronomy will yieldher place to physical astronomy, to the true study of Nature.
"Yes," she continued, "astronomers who calculate the movements of thestars in their daily passage of the meridian, those who foretelleclipses, celestial phenomena, periodical comets, who observe the exactpositions of the stars and planets on the different degrees of thecelestial sphere so carefully; those who discover comets, planets,satellites, and variable stars; those who investigate and determine thedisturbance caused the Earth's motion by attraction from the Moon andplanets; those who consecrate their night-watches to the discovery ofthe fundamental elements of the world's system,--are all of themcalculators and observers, precursors of the new astronomy. These areimmense labors, studies worthy of admiration, and important works whichbring to light the highest faculties of the human mind. But it is thearmy of the past; mathematicians and geometricians. Henceforth, thehearts of savants will throb for a still nobler conquest. All thesegreat minds never really left the Earth while studying the skies.Astronomy's aim is not to show us the apparent position of shiningspecks, nor to weigh stones moving through space, nor to foretelleclipses, or the phases of the Moon or tides. All this is fine, but itis not enough.
"If life did not exist upon the earth, that planet would be absolutelydevoid of interest for any mind whatsoever; and the same remark isapplicable to all the worlds which gravitate around the thousands ofmillions of suns in the wide stretches of immensity. Life is the objectof the whole creation. If there were neither life nor thought, it wouldall be null and void.
"You are destined to witness an entire transformation in science. Matterwill give place to mind."
"Life universal!" I asked: "Are all the planets of our solar systeminhabited? Are the myriads of worlds which people the infinite livedupon? Do those forms of human life resemble ours? Shall we ever knowthem?"
"The epoch of your life upon the earth, even the duration of terrestrialhumanity, is but a moment in eternity."
I did not understand this answer to my questions.
"There is no reason why all the worlds should be inhabited _now_," shewent on. "The present period is of no more importance than those whichpreceded or will follow it.
"The length of the Earth's existence will be longer--much longer,perhaps ten times longer--than that of its vital human period. Out of adozen worlds selected by chance from immensity, we could, for example,find hardly one inhabited by a really intelligent race. Some have beenalready, others will be in the future; these are in preparation, thosehave run through all their phases: here cradles, there graves. And thentoo an infinite variety in the forces of Nature and their manifestationsis revealed; earthly life being in no way the type of extra-terrestrialexistence. Beings can think, live, in wholly different organizationsfrom those with which you are familiar on your own planet. Inhabitantsof the other worlds have neither your form nor senses; they areotherwise.
"The day will come, and very soon, since you are called to see it, whenthe study of the conditions of life in the various provinces of theuniverse will be astronomy's essential aim and chief charm. Soon,instead of being concerned simply about the distance, the motion, andthe material facts of your neighboring planets, astronomers willdiscover their physical constitution,--for example, their geographicalappearance, their climatology, their meteorology,--will solve themystery of their vital organizations, and will discuss theirinhabitants. They will find that Mars and Venus are actually peopled bythinking beings; that Jupiter is still in its primary period of organicpreparation; that Saturn looks down upon us under quite differentconditions from those which were instrumental in the establishment ofterrestrial life, and without passing through a state analogous to thatof Earth, will be inhabited by beings incompatible with earthlyorganisms. New methods will tell about the physical and chemicalconstitutions of the stars and the nature of their atmospheres.Perfected instruments will permit the discovery of direct proofs ofexistence in these planetary humanities and the idea of putting one'sself in communication with them. This is the scientific transformationwhich will mark the close of the nineteenth century and inaugurate thetwentieth."
I listened with delight to these words of the celestial Muse, which shedan entirely di
fferent light upon the future of astronomy and filled mewith renewed ardor. Before my eyes was a panorama of innumerable worldsmoving in space, and I understood that the true object of science is toteach us about those far distant universes and allow us to live in thosewide horizons. The beautiful goddess resumed:
"Astronomy's mission will be still higher. After making you know andfeel that the Earth is but a city in the celestial country, and man acitizen of heaven, she will go still farther. Disclosing the plan onwhich the physical universe is constructed, she will show that the moraluniverse is constructed on the very same basis, that the two worlds formbut one world, and that mind governs matter. What she will have done forspace she will do for time. After realizing the boundlessness of space,and recognizing that the same laws govern all places simultaneously andmake the vast universe one grand unit, you will learn that the centuriesof the past and of the future are linked with the present, and thatthinking monads will live forever through successive and progressivechanges. You will learn that minds exist incomparably superior to thegreatest minds of earthly humanity, and that all things advance towardsupreme perfection. You will learn too that the material form is but anappearance, and that the real being consists of an imponderable,intangible, and invisible form.
"Astronomy will then be eminently and above all else the directress ofphilosophy. Those who reason without astronomical knowledge will neverreach the truth. Those who follow her beacon faithfully will graduallyrise to the solutions of the greatest problems.
"Astronomical philosophy will be the religion of lofty minds.
"You will see this double transformation in science," she added, "whenyou leave the terrestrial globe; the astronomical knowledge which youalready so justly prize will be entirely remodelled in form as well asspirit.
"But this is not all. The renewal of an old science will be of littleuse to mankind in general if these sublime truths which develop themind, enlighten the soul, and free it from vulgar common-place should bekept shut up within the narrow limits of professional astronomers. Thistime too will pass away. We must begin anew. The torch must be taken inhand, and its glory increased by carrying it into the busy streets andpublic squares. Every one is called to receive the light, every one isthirsting for it,--especially the humble, those on whom fortune frowns,for these are the persons who think most; these are eager for knowledge,while the contented ones of the century do not suspect their ownignorance, and are almost proud of staying in it. Yes, the light ofastronomy must be diffused throughout the world; it must filter throughthe strata of humanity to the popular masses, enlighten theirconsciences, elevate their hearts. That will be its most beautiful andits grandest, greatest mission!"