PTOLEMY (2nd century) Greek astronomer and geographer. His teachings had enormous influence on medieval thought, the geocentric view of the cosmos being adopted as Christian doctrine until the late Renaissance. Ptolemy’s Geography, giving lists of places with their longitudes and latitudes, was also a standard work for centuries, despite its inaccuracies.

Unless one were a student of geography, it is not unimaginable that you haven’t an especially learned knowledge of parts of the world beyond your immediate familiarity. This narrowness of thought is a casualty of one’s mundane acquaintance. But aside from base ignorance, the separation of oneself and one’s customary alliances often cultivates the misguided opinion that you and they are on a select path vis-à-vis others. This tribal map may once have been a necessary feature of protection and self-preservation; but, in circumstances where we now surpass such medieval differences, it behooves one to evaluate the precise nature of those elemental presumptions. The misguided concept of the geocentric view of the cosmos is one example.

Geocentrism is a superseded astronomical model description of the Universe with Earth at the center. It is also known as the geocentric model, often exemplified specifically by the Ptolemaic system. Under most geocentric models, the Sun, the Moon, stars, and planets all orbit Earth. The geocentric model was the predominant description of the cosmos in many European ancient civilizations, such as those of Aristotle in Classical Greece and Ptolemy in Roman Egypt, as well as during the Islamic Golden Age.

Debate about the extent and nature of the cosmos (“the universe seen as a well-ordered whole”) was likely encouraging to those in ancient civilizations. It did however have repercussions beyond scientific error. The geocentric view was attached to religion, further compounding its already imaginary scope. Specifically Christianity.

And beyond the confinement of religion and local geography and astronomy, there is the danger of presuming moral entitlement or ethical superiority based upon patently false premises. Since World War II the pressing features of life beyond the shores of North America have been limited. That is, the recent wars in Ukraine and Iran have altered the global perspective not only geographically but also politically, socially and economically. Stepping off the plateau of so-called Western society has been an unwitting illumination.

Whether there is any merit to the discredit being levied by the Western world beyond its boundaries is doubtful. Arguments concerning the rights and obligations of citizens are, from any perspective, open to examination and change. This does not however entitle anyone to bomb and kill others. One need only recall the absurdity of the geocentric view of the cosmos. Egregious distension of petty and baseless views only accelerates the toxicity of the engagement.

While it is easy to dismiss arguments on either side, the preoccupation to legitimize oneself is not the issue.  The issue is to settle the argument, not to win it. It is an unwelcome pattern of diplomacy both worldwide and domestically that perpetual debate and accusation are characteristic of those primitive tribal severances. Allowing that poisonous relationship to linger is a confession not of certainty but of division.

It disturbs me enormously that it required Sir Isaac Newton in 1687 to contradict the geocentric view of the cosmos (which, by the way, was adopted by both Aristotle and Plato). The debunked theory lasted for nearly 1,500 years. And its recovery from the Greeks was slow and laborious (as evident in the historical positions of the Roman Catholic hierarchy – such preposterous writings as Providentissimus Deus).

In the 6th century BC, Anaximander proposed a cosmology in which Earth is shaped like a section of a pillar (a cylinder), held aloft at the center of everything. The Sun, Moon, and planets were holes in invisible wheels which surround Earth, and through those holes, humans could see concealed fire. At around the same time, Pythagoras thought that Earth was a sphere (in accordance with observations of eclipses), but not at the center; he believed that it was in motion around an unseen fire. Later these two concepts were combined, so that most of the educated Greeks from the 4th century BC onwards thought that Earth was a sphere at the center of the universe.

Over the centuries the reduction of thought to clinical fact has clearly been an effort – though in fairness there was profit engendered by poetry. If however one prefers reality to drama  – or, if one is not devoted to thought solely to promote one’s own interests – the first step is admission of the incompatibility of the governing premises and conclusions. I anxiously await the evolution of thought from Sir Isaac Newton’s gene. The world is in need of convincing leadership. Listening to world leaders unsparingly speak of wrecking havoc is, at the very least, a dreadfully small compliment to them as our leaders and to us as their supporters. Until that intellectual epiphany however we appear to be bound by the rich and powerful industrialists. Small wonder therefore that many have preferred the product of spiritual colouration.