Divine Love and Wisdom # 82
82. We will say something here about the notion of a vacuum. I once heard angels speaking with Newton 1 about the possibility of a vacuum, saying that they could not bear the idea of a vacuum as nothingness. For, they said, in their world which is spiritual and which lies within or above the space and time continuums of the natural world, they likewise feel, think, are affected, love will, breathe, indeed speak and act, which could not possibly be the case in a vacuum defined as nothingness, because nothing is nothing, and something cannot be predicated of nothing.
Newton said that he knows that the Divine which has being fills all things, and that he himself is horrified at the idea of a vacuum as nothingness, because such an idea is destructive of all things. He said this urging those who speak of a vacuum with him to guard themselves against the idea of nothingness, calling it a state of insensibility, because in an idea of nothing no mental activity is possible.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. Sir Isaac Newton, 1642-1727, renowned English mathematician and natural philosopher, the most eminent physicist of his day. Among his principal achievements were formulation of the law of gravitation and laws of motion, invention of infinitesimal calculus, and the first correct analysis of white light. Newton found the existence of God reflected in the admirable order of the universe, but opposed the pantheistic notion of a world soul. He also denied the doctrine of the Trinity on the ground that such a belief was inaccessible to reason.
