Cartesius Page #6

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license of our Academy,

I think I will be able to find

a good officer post with him

and with pay.

And who will this war be against?

Against the Bohemians, rebelling against

their King and Emperor Ferdinand II.

My uncle wrote to me from Ulma.

After the noble Calvinists

the Bohemians have thrown

the imperial messengers and their

secretaries out of Prague Castle window

with whom they should have

negotiated the terms of an agreement.

In many parts of Germany

troops are being armed.

The imperial Catholics are preparing

to attack and destroy

the Bohemian protestants led by

the Elector Prince of the Palatinate.

In Germany, a year doesn't pass

when an army isn't armed.

It's always been that way.

There have always been some highly

advantageous recruiting moments.

And there is also the excellent beer

and the very beautiful women.

Mr Beeckman.

Good morning Mr Descartes.

I finally see you awake

at an early hour.

Oh yes. I have great nostalgia

for our good French beds.

I received your card.

Why do you want to abandon the Army?

I didn't come to stay.

I'm a soldier to study

men and to confront

myself against life.

Now, I'm going to Denmark,

and then, perhaps to Germany,

I don't know well yet.

And so you are abandoning

your projects.

Sometime ago, you had promised

to publish a Treatise

on Mechanics and Geometry,

but since you've been at Breda

I haven't seen you write

even one line on this subject.

Naturally that doesn't mean that I didn't

appreciate that excellent musical compendium

you sent me as a Christmas

present, but I confess

that I expected more from

your mathematical mind.

I will write, I will keep faith

with all my projects, don't worry.

But I still need to reflect.

I have understood that men,

when assailed by curiosity,

run the risk of pushing intelligence

in ways unknown to them ,

staying without a precise aim ,

without a reasonable hope,

like by chance, as if guided

just by imagination.

And yet, on more than one occasion ,

I've heard you formulate

some precise hypotheses

and exact calculations.

I still need to reflect.

Well then, before setting off,

you must promise me, at least,

that you'll send me a copy

of everything you write.

Yes dear friend, I promise.

You here at Breda have awakened

me from an old inertia

I was carrying around, you have

brought back my misguided mind

to the serious study of mathematics.

How could I ever forget you.

In Germany at the start

of the winter season,

the forced quartering of the army

obliged me to stay in a house

in which not having

any cares or passions

to disturb my spirit,

I remained completely alone all day,

in a well heated room ,

where I could entertain myself

with my thoughts in complete peace.

In this way, after a

few days of reflection

a new basis of knowledge

came to me, as clear

as a wonderful science

from which it is possible to produce

order in all the thoughts

that can enter the human spirit.

Just like a natural order

exists between all numbers.

The night in which I saw this

new principle, I had three dreams,

the first two, I must

confess, mortally scared me,

the third however, was

very sweet and pleasant,

it was the one in which

I seemed to see the birth

of a new hope for the future.

Tell me your dreams.

Well, I saw myself

walking along a road,

oppressed by a frightening

vortex of wind,

with the impression

of falling at each step.

Then, I saw a college

and it was there I took refuge,

trying to reach the

Church of that college

to pray,

when in the windy courtyard I saw

a man I knew,

who I 'd overtaken without greeting.

I wanted to retrace my

steps to apologise for my

lapse, but it was impossible

as I was pushed back

with unheard of violence by the wind.

Whilst that person,

and the others around him

were upright and stable on their feet.

I on the other hand was

bent over and shaking,

as if that vortex of wind

was blowing just for me.

When I awoke I was

afflicted by a great pain.

I prayed to God

to defend me from evil

and after the passing

of two hours

in profound meditation on the good

and evil things of this world

I went back to sleep again.

And straightway, I had another dream.

I heard a great thunder

and fear awoke me once again

and after opening my eyes

I saw the room

completely invaded by sparks on fire,

something that had happened

to me on other occasions.

Marvelous, fire and light

are important signs.

In a short time, by opening and

closing my eyes alternately,

everything dissipated and I

went back to sleep with great calm.

A moment later, I had the third dream.

Tell me, tell me.

I found a poetry

collection in my hands,

the ''Corpus poetarum''.

I opened it and read this verse:

Quod vitae sectabor iter

Which road

will I choose for my life

A man I had never seen

presented me at that same moment

with a text in verses

that began like this:

''Est et non''

''Yes and no''.

These are very curious

dreams and seem to hide

some important revelations

Have you discovered the meanings?

I examined them carefully.

My first dream

Indicated the errors, the fears,

the doubts of my past life.

The second one could only

have been the evident sign

of the spirit of truth

that came down on me.

The third indicated the future.

''Est et non''

is the ''yes and no'' of Pythagoras,

a future in which

the truth will be revealed to me

and at the same time,

the falsity of human knowledge

and of the profane sciences.

I do not know what destiny

awaits you Mr Descartes,

but I highly recommend you to

pray to God to keep you humble,

because wisdom gets

lost through science,

the absolute truth, namely God,

remains a mystery for all men.

Your advice

is always full of...

wisdom.

You are always so disturbed, unstable.

It's incredible

you will never arrive at any result,

if you do not once and for all choose

a fixed abode, in which

to study and write.

You are right.

But when I stop in a city,

after seeing how the people live

and after talking with all those

I judge worth talking to

I'm taken by a great desire

to start travelling again.

And how long do you

intend to stop in Paris?

For a very short time Father.

I have seen Mr Le Vasseur

who talked to me of your dreams.

He told me that you believe

that you have reached a new basis

for knowing the truth

with absolute certainty.

Mr Le Vasseur exaggerated.

I must still reflect on what

is still an intuition.

But you doubt everything.

To many you appear to be a sceptic,

but it has also been said that

you intend to repudiate

all our old beliefs.

But not that of the faith,

my Father, relax,

because the heavens are open to ignorant

persons as they are to learned ones.

And as for me doubting

everything, don't worry.

I have nothing in

common with the sceptics,

I only want to build my convictions

on rock and not on sand,

as I have no intention of

imitating those travellers

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