E.T. Phone Home
(This is Abigail if there was any confusion in the name tagging. I realized i was still logged into my other Google email when i posted this, sorry)
In the beginning of Book Eight, Adam is expressing his doubts about the creation and purpose of the universe and its heavenly bodies to Raphael, who is doing his best to satisfy Adam's inquiries and remind him of his place. While I was reading Raphael's reply, two specific passages caught my attention:
"What if that light sent from her through the wide transpicuous air to the terrestrial moon be as a star Enlight'ning her by day as she by night this Earth reciprocal if land be there, fields and ihabitants?.."
"For such vast room in nature unpossessed by living soul, desert and desolate, only to shine yet scarce to contribute each orb a glimpse of light conveyed so far down to this habitable, which returns light back to them, is obvious to dispute."
Adam was previously expressing his confusion of the stars purpose and how insignificant the Earth is among all these other heavenly bodies. After a few paragraphs of Raphael going into lengthy astronomical theories, he makes this theory about other life not on planet Earth saying, in other words, the universe is so big that the idea of other life forms is a valid thought and possibility. This took me by surprise because I never really thought about astronomers and scientists in Milton's time debating the possibility of extraterrestrial life. This may sound ignorant but I figured they were so preoccupied in arguing over whether not the Earth was the center of the universe that they didn't think about too much else. I wonder now if these lines about "alien" life were a product of Milton's thoughts, Galileo's thoughts, or both...
(I commented on Trey's post.)
In the beginning of Book Eight, Adam is expressing his doubts about the creation and purpose of the universe and its heavenly bodies to Raphael, who is doing his best to satisfy Adam's inquiries and remind him of his place. While I was reading Raphael's reply, two specific passages caught my attention:
"What if that light sent from her through the wide transpicuous air to the terrestrial moon be as a star Enlight'ning her by day as she by night this Earth reciprocal if land be there, fields and ihabitants?.."
"For such vast room in nature unpossessed by living soul, desert and desolate, only to shine yet scarce to contribute each orb a glimpse of light conveyed so far down to this habitable, which returns light back to them, is obvious to dispute."
Adam was previously expressing his confusion of the stars purpose and how insignificant the Earth is among all these other heavenly bodies. After a few paragraphs of Raphael going into lengthy astronomical theories, he makes this theory about other life not on planet Earth saying, in other words, the universe is so big that the idea of other life forms is a valid thought and possibility. This took me by surprise because I never really thought about astronomers and scientists in Milton's time debating the possibility of extraterrestrial life. This may sound ignorant but I figured they were so preoccupied in arguing over whether not the Earth was the center of the universe that they didn't think about too much else. I wonder now if these lines about "alien" life were a product of Milton's thoughts, Galileo's thoughts, or both...
(I commented on Trey's post.)
Wow! I did not catch that when I read this. That reminds me of C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy. C.S. Lewis had no problem exploring the idea of how aliens relate to God and whether or not they could be Christians. In "Perelandra", the second book of the trilogy, an alien version of Adam and Eve are given the choice to disobey Maleldil (God). Interestingly, C.S. Lewis has alien Eve separated from Adam during the temptation, too. I wonder why both authors chose to depict their stories in this way. The Space Trilogy is a fascinating read to anyone who is interested, btw!
ReplyDeleteI don't really find this surprising. Adam (read: Milton) knows that an infinite God has created an infinite universe. Would he so easily assume "God decided to populate this magnificent, endless creation with two people confined to one planet insignificantly small in comparison with everything else"? Aside from declaring the glory of God, is there a point to all that?
ReplyDeleteI don't believe in intelligent life outside earth, of course, but it seems a natural question to anybody with a decent telescope.
I caught that too! I found it interesting that Milton would propose such an interesting question for his time. It honestly shows how progressive some of Milton's beliefs were, even if they weren't all correct. I don't believe in intelligent life outside of earth (though I would find it really cool if we did find *something*), but Milton's idea does prove an good point. Why would God make this expansive universe just for humans? It's one that's plagued mankind since the invention of the telescope, and until we're proven wrong, it'll continue to plague us.
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