When I responded 'PREFECT!' to
@daq - I didn't mean to imply that I 'perfectly' understood his entire premise, but rather that I understood his examples and that I would eventually be able to work it out. Sorry if I misled you.
There is a huge Sundial and a Foucault Pendulum at the local Museum of Natural Science. Repeated trips to the museum throughout the school year found me spending many hours on that plaza at the sundial pondering the experiments prescribed for us kids. The same can be said with pendulum indoors and every other exhibit within the museum. It's still one of my favorite places to visit.
At my middle school, we installed hooks to suspend multiple pendulums from the ceiling of the gymnasium, to replicate Foucault's demonstration of the Earth's rotation and for further experiments, such as the 'Cavendish' experiment to measure gravitational attraction of objects by mass. Buried deep within my damaged brain are the hidden keys to this enlightened investigation. It's just a matter of digging them out.
I endured some catastrophic neurological damage that inhibits immediate recognition of certain processes. I have many of these deeply embedded memories and they have a way of resurfacing if I dwell on the related imagery long enough. It's likened to finding one's way to a childhood home by visualizing landmarks that have long ago fallen to demolition and new construction. It's difficult but most times doable.
When I read your and daq's posts about the Zadok calendar, I see related images in my mind and, in time, the thoughts expressed and the relationships to which you have alluded become clearer. I can work out the details slowly, but I often know whether I agree or not immediately. The phrase, '...through a glass darkly' comes to mind.
When you speak of the shortsightedness of members of certain academic disciplines, I completely agree and am reminded of the mathematicians of cultural, racial or gender minority that made the many early NASA successes possible by out performing the computers designed to replace them. What is funny though, is that after those early successes were realized, the real heroes of the space age were being sequestered 'in the wings' while the politicians and administrators of an 'acceptable' stereotype took center stage.
The sad fact is, the dominant sect of any population always seems to discriminate unfairly. I could cite examples but that seems redundant and ridiculously obvious to the unbiased observer and equally ridiculous to a biased observer, but for a different cause entirely.
Another sad fact is that mankind seems to be getting less, not more enlightened; less, not more capable. Take Adam's ability to name all the creatures our Father brought to him - as an example and as a baseline. Now recalculate the capabilities of ancient man based on our current standards for a 'genius' or an 'enlightened' individual.
I believe mathematics is as ancient as Eden. Adonai and His hosts recognized how capable the engineers of the Tower of Bavel were and said as much. So much so, they had to be stopped for their own sake and the sake of man.
So when I think of:
- a Foucault Pendulum, I remember how long man has been tinkering with plumb lines.
- a sundial, I think of NASA, astrophysics and celestial mechanics.
- Enoch, I think of a book meant to be understood by man.
- Entertainment, I think of a time when man was observing and meditating on the heavens and the Creator - in terms of Psalm 19.
I'm glad that neither of you limit your estimations of the capabilities of ancient man based on what academia believes. I say, recalculate as if to spite them. Then, in my estimation, you may get a little closer to the truth.
Finally, I wish to thank you both for all your work and to apologize for not being able to carry my weight in this conversation. I have been working on a more detailed view of this topic and a few suggestions too. But I'm not nearly as far along as I would like.
Again, many thanks and blessings,