Only the Man Outside Knows the Truth
The globe earth model is a very good model. It is more than a story. It is a valid scientific predictive model passing most of the tests when you compare it with our actual observations. Meaning that using the globe earth model, in almost all cases, you can predict what we will actually see happening in the solar system and provide a logical explanation as to why and how it is happening.
The globe earth model has a few weak points. But overall it is a beautiful concept. A shiny blue mostly water covered marble spinning on a tilted axis in the sky rotating around the sun. Magnificent, beautiful, awesome.
So the globe earth model is more than a story, it is our conception of our reality, and it could possibly be a description of how the solar system works and our position within it. Currently there is nothing that can seriously compete with the globe earth model, there is no serious alternative to it.
The globe earth model is the conclusion of centuries of recorded observations. However what scientists don’t seem to realize is we can’t see much of the universe. Our powers of observation are very very very limited when it comes to studying the universe. We look up and see some stars and planets and sun and moon moving in the sky. We can’t see anything else. We don’t know actually how they are arranged and what is causing them to move. We don’t have any idea of their actual distance as we can only observe two dimensions. We have no ability to measure the distance to the objects we see in the sky and we have no ability to measure their actual size. And we can only see objects that are illuminated. There may be so many other things in the universe, and surely there are, that we can not see from our very limited view, stuck here on earth.
Because we can not observe the universe and its workings it is not possible for us to conclusively understand how it is working or constituted. We are unable to see the mechanism that is working the universe, so without being able to observe it, even with the speculations of intelligent men for hundreds of years, we are still totally in the dark. All we have is a theory in reality.
If we are inside a room and hear some banging noise on the roof coming from outside, ,we can speculate or guess what the cause of the banging is. We can speculate for centuries. The great thinkers and scientists can ponder over it and come to a conclusion and declare to the ignorant masses that they, the great scientists, have discovered the cause of that banging sound on the roof. The scientist’s model might even predict the exact times, down to the second, when the banging will start and stop. They can predict the exact frequency of the banging. And they can accurately predict the few days in the year that there will be no banging. And the ignorant masses are impressed by the great scientists and believe them and think now they understand what is causing that sound on the roof. However the reality is the great scientists have just speculated and they have no idea, and no way of testing, if their speculations are correct or not. It is only a guess, a theory, and it is very unlikely it is really a correct description of the actual cause. Because the scientists can’t get outside the room, they can’t see what is causing the banging on the roof. They have no power to observe it, so any theory they develop to explain it is bound to be incorrect.
The only way, actually, they could find out what was causing the banging on the roof is if they could get out of the building themselves and have a look or if they could find someone who had been outside and seen it, he could explain it to them. If someone from outside the building came inside he would be able to explain what was causing the banging on the roof, because he has seen what is causing the banging on the roof from the outside. Unlike the scientists locked in the room he knows.
Then, the person who has actually seen what is causing the banging on the roof, his version is authoritative. His version is real. The scientists who have speculated and pondered on it for centuries, without being able to observe the workings of the system, without being able to see what the cause of the banging actually is, all their speculations, actually, are useless.
This is the real situation with the globe earth model. It is a beautiful model, a fantastic story. The globe earth model is scientific in the sense that it explains, and, for the most part, predicts, our actual observations. It might even be true, it could be an accurate description of the system. However the reality is we don’t know if the globe earth model is correct or not.
Still it is the only working model we have. Flat earthers have an idea, but no working model, they can not explain how their idea could work in reality, they can not give us a model that predicts what we observe.
But if the flat earthers could provide such a model, that works as well as the globe earth model, that would be equally valid as the globe earth model. They can’t, at least not now, but if they could, then the flat earth idea would be just as valid as the globe earth idea. Neither side would necessarily be correct still… The reality may be different again.
For example since the beginning of time almost all civilizations considered our solar system to be earth centered. And they calculated everything based on that. Everything is rotating around a central earth. And you can do that. If you take that assumption, that the earth is the center, then you can adjust all the globe earth model calculations for it, and they will all work perfectly in your solar system with the earth in the middle.
You can adjust it either way, you can have an earth centered solar system or a sun centered solar system and there is no way for us to tell what is the actual fact because the relative motion within the system in either case is identical and we are within the system. So to us, both a sun centered solar system and an earth centered solar system would appear identical. We can not know which one is a fact. So for scientists it is just an arbitrary choice of the initial assumption. They can presume the earth is in the center and make their calculations according to that or they can presume the sun is in the center and make their calculations accordingly.
Both the earth centered model and the sun centered model are completely valid predictive scientific models, both models work equally well. So depending on your philosophy, your religion, you can choose if you want to consider the earth the center or the sun the center of the solar system.
It is impossible for us to determine the reality that from within the system. The only way we can determine the reality is if we can find someone who has been outside the system and has observed it, he can tell us. Like all those scientists who were locked in the room postulating on the cause of the banging sound on the roof. It is useless, they will never find the truth in that way. Only when the man from outside comes into the room and explains what he has seen causing the sound on the roof. only then can they know in truth.
These days we have got everyone splitting up into flat earthers and globe earthers and fighting with each other. Even among the Hare Krishna devotees, now we have got flat earth devotees and globe earth devotees!
So I have created a small website to try and inject some reality into this discussion:
FlatEarthFacts.com
About the Author
Madhudvisa dasa My first contact with a Hare Krishna was a most merciful Mataji in Oxford Street, London who sold me a "Higher Taste" cook book in 1984 while I was on holidays there. I started seriously reading Srila Prabhupada's books in Australia 1985 and by 1986 Srila Prabhupada had convinced me "Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead" and "we should surrender to Krishna." I joined the Hare Krishnas in Perth, Western Australia in 1986. Since then I have been chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, reading and distributing Srila Prabhupada's books and preaching as much as I can. That's my life and full-time occupation now really. I like it more than anything I've ever experienced before. Srila Prabhupada's books are so amazing... Even after reading them all many times they're still fresh and new. They are truly transcendental! That's it really. Now I'm just hankering to once again see the world chant Hare Krishna, dance and feast and float away in the ecstasy of Lord Caitanya's Sankirtana movement as it did in Srila Prabhupada's physical presence. Let the whole world drown in the ecstatic flood of love of Krishna!
