Deus sive Natura

I like this little timeline serendipity.  

Brought to mind one of my old science heroes, Johannes Kepler.  His work trying to understand the mind of G-d through understanding his Creation, reading the Divine Plan in the geometry of the Heavens, had a gravitational influence on my own worldview.  Same for the likes of Spinoza.

And since I recently revisited The Name of the Rose, it also brings to mind Bacon (both Roger and Francis), as well as opposing philosophies characterized by venerable Jorge.

In the movie¹, there is a brief scene where a novice (or some monk at any rate) is reading aloud to blind Jorge, and we hear reference to Ecclesiastes 1:17-18:

17 And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.

18 For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

To a certain extent, I concur.  Knowing and being aware of shit does surely increase my sorrow in our benighted epoch, as we are often at the mercy of MAGA idiots, anti-vaxxers, climate change deniers, et al.  Yet the verses actually are a declaration that pursuit of wisdom is meaningless and futile, and that's where I get off the bus.

Instead, I hop on what Francis Bacon espoused in Novum Organum (The New Instrument or True Directions Concerning the Interpretation of Nature):

I

Man, being the servant and interpreter of Nature, can do and understand so much and so much only as he has observed in fact or in thought of the course of nature. Beyond this he neither knows anything nor can do anything.

II

Neither the naked hand nor the understanding left to itself can effect much. It is by instruments and helps that the work is done, which are as much wanted for the understanding as for the hand. And as the instruments of the hand either give motion or guide it, so the instruments of the mind supply either suggestions for the understanding or cautions.

III

Human knowledge and human power meet in one; for where the cause is not known the effect cannot be produced. Nature to be commanded must be obeyed; and that which in contemplation is as the cause is in operation as the rule.

William (again, in the movie) at one point expresses it thus to Adso (who really needs to pee): in order to command nature, one must first learn to obey it (naturae enim non imperatur, nisi parendo).  In the book, the idea is not presented in such a pat manner, but rather is expounded upon a number of times, like this:

[Roger² Bacon] spoke clearly and calmly of the Antichrist, and was aware of the import of the corruption of the world and the decline of learning. He taught, however, that there is only one way to prepare against his coming: study the secrets of nature, use knowledge to better the human race.

Which brings to mind Proverbs 18:15: The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge, And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.  And from where I sit, to be an instrument of G-d's peace, one must be an instrument of learning.

In conclusion: G-d is in the rain.

1 - LOL, I couldn't find a parallel scene or reference in the book, so I asked Google to help me, and the fucking thing hallucinated an entire passage.  Brother William laughs.

2 - Eco plays some of his usual games to sneak in anachronistic ideas.