Preparing for the Miraculous

eing human and the copernican principle 121after all our standing-ground, our lower basis, and to knowtheir processes and their own proper possibilities and theopportunities they give to the human being is part of theknowledge necessary for transcending them.” 4“Three things will remain from the labour of the secularistcenturies: truth of the physical world and its importance,the scientific method of knowledge – which is toinduce Nature and Being to reveal their own way of beingand proceeding ... – and last, though very far from least,the truth and importance of the earth life and the humanendeavour, its evolutionary meaning.” 5La nuova scienzaAs mentioned in passing above, an integral and usuallyoverlooked factor in the thinking of modern scienceis its Judeo-Christian background. The science of the socalledHellenistic period in Greece and Alexandria hadreached a high level of development with figures of geniuslike Archimedes, Eratosthenes, Aristarchus of Samos, Hipparchusand Ptolemy. Marvin Minsky regrets the coursehistory has taken, for he is of the opinion that science couldnow already have been much more advanced “if its progresshad not succumbed to the spread of monotheistic religions.As early as 250 BC, Archimedes was well on the way towardmodern physics and calculus. So, in an alternate version ofhistory (in which the pursuits of science did not decline),just a few more centuries could have allowed the likes ofNewton, Maxwell, Gauss, and Pasteur to anticipate ourpresent state of knowledge about physics, mathematics, andbiology.” 64 Sri Aurobindo: The Human Cycle, p. 78.5 Sri Aurobindo: Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, p. 195.6 In John Brockman (ed.): What Are You Optimistic About? p. 195.