२७ मार्च, २०२४

"The seventeenth-century friar Joseph of Cupertino flew so often, so extravagantly, so publicly, that he forced everyone around him..."

"... to confront the boundary between the inexplicable and the impossible... Crowds of people came to see the spectacle... So many came to see him that the friars had to remove tiles from the roof so the masses could watch him fly during the liturgy. He levitated constantly, understandably annoying his fellow friars—what with the shrieking, the soaring, the streaming crowds. He eventually annoyed the Inquisition, too, and was charged with feigned sanctity. He levitated on the way to his trial. The examiners gave him a stern warning, and the Inquisition would monitor him for the rest of his life.... Joseph understood his body as his medium. He starved it, whipped it, abused it violently for decades. Did he starve himself into lightness, with his diet of beans and rotting vegetables? According to hagiographers, when he was dying he called his body asino, or 'jackass.' During his final illness: 'The jackass has now begun to climb the mountain.' On the brink of death: 'The jackass has reached the top of the mountain. He can no longer move. He will have to leave his hide here.'..."

Writes Erin Maglaque in "Wings of Desire/A gullible new book raises the question of how we should interpret the history of the supernatural in early modernity" (NYRB). The book under review is "They Flew: A History of the Impossible" by Carlos M.N. Eire.

Maglaque continues:
Joseph of Cupertino’s case seems to have brought Eire to the edge of his explanatory powers. Joseph, in his words, was “so impossibly otherworldly as to defy rational analysis.” Eire claims to have assembled eyewitness accounts to Joseph’s flights, but really he’s read hagiographies.... I think we’re meant to believe that these “eyewitness testimonies” suggest that Joseph, indeed, flew. Eire writes that, since most of these levitations were outside, Joseph couldn’t possibly have used trampolines or ropes to fake it. “Why,” he asks in another one of those rhetorical questions, “has he been relegated to the history of the ridiculous rather than to the history of the impossible, or to the science of antigravitational forces?”

According to this line of reasoning, Joseph’s flights would necessarily change our understanding not of history but of gravity.... To say that Joseph flew and that our understanding of the laws of physics therefore must change (how, exactly?) is to explain precisely nothing: nothing about the early modern world, nothing about our own, and nothing about the vexed relationship between the enchanted past and our disenchanted present....

Many more stories of flying and "bilocation" at the link. 

२२ टिप्पण्या:

Ice Nine म्हणाले...

>Did he starve himself into lightness, with his diet of beans and rotting vegetables?<

I would suspect then that lightness was not the critical factor in his levitation...more likely, propulsion.

Rusty म्हणाले...

Well. To be fair. A lot of people believe Biden has been a good president.

Rocco म्हणाले...

Ice Nine said...
“Did he starve himself into lightness, with his diet of beans and rotting vegetables?

I would suspect then that lightness was not the critical factor in his levitation...more likely, propulsion.”

That begs the question: What were his carbon emissions?

hombre म्हणाले...

The tyranny of materialism in modern journalism. The tyranny of progressivism in modern journalism. Dog bites man.

Kevin म्हणाले...

I'm levitating. -- Dua Lipa

tim maguire म्हणाले...

Ice Nine said...
"Did he starve himself into lightness, with his diet of beans and rotting vegetables?"

I would suspect then that lightness was not the critical factor in his levitation...more likely, propulsion.


Not only did he live to 100, but it seemed like 200.

Mr. O. Possum म्हणाले...

English monk Eilmer of Malmesbury is believed to have flown about 200 yards around the year 1110 by affixing wings to his arms and hurling himself off the high tower of his abbey which stood in a place known for high winds. Though he broke bones upon landing, he lived into his late 80s. A century later a well-respected historian recorded the event.

Eilmer supposedly said he would have flown farther had he given himself a tail.

Tom T. म्हणाले...

Wikipedia quotes skeptical sources suggesting that Joseph was really just leaping prodigiously. Some people also think he was having hallucinations caused by consuming ergot, a common contaminant of rye bread at the time.

tommyesq म्हणाले...

Kinda like how the Big Bang theory (the actual scientific theory, not the show) didn't add up, so the solution was to postulate "dark energy" to explain away the differences, and then "dark matter" because ??, rather than to question whether the theory was correct or not. Or how climate "scientists" are certain that their theory is correct even though it has failed to predict past climate events and is thus clearly incorrect. There are none so blind as those that will not see.

MadisonMan म्हणाले...

How can a book be gullible?

Fred Drinkwater म्हणाले...

The next town over is Cupertino, CA. I am currently engaged in some negotiations with their City Council. Perhaps this article has some explanatory power, regarding their...behavior.

loudogblog म्हणाले...

Many magicians figured out ways to make it look like they were actually flying, when it just theater tricks. There's actually a company, named Flying by Foy, that specializes in that.

Also, is the book "gullible" or is the book just aimed at a gullible audience?

lonejustice म्हणाले...

I remember The Flying Nun.

Freeman Hunt म्हणाले...

A Yale professor wrote a book arguing that a guy flew around and should be studied for "anti-gravitational science?" Hm.

Current fad of believing all assertions not limited to townie online vid watchers and acolytes of the MSM.

Freeman Hunt म्हणाले...

Nevermind. I'll withhold judgement until I read the whole article or book info. Maybe he was kidding.

Joe Smith म्हणाले...

Sally Field has entered the room...

WK म्हणाले...

“flew so often, so extravagantly, so publicly, that he forced everyone around him..."
"... to confront the boundary between the inexplicable and the impossible

Sounds like Taylor Swift.

Indigo Red म्हणाले...

The Flying Nun was seen frequently flying over San Juan, Puerto Rico. Her levitations were filmed and broadcast across America every week for three years in the mid to late 20th Century.

mikee म्हणाले...

The sun was reported to have swung back and forth across the sky while tens of thousands watched at Fatima, early in the last century. So miracles have occurred even within the past century, or at least miracles have been reported to have occurred.

And therein lies the problem: One cannot validate supernatural events using natural laws. One either believes based on faith, or disbelieves based on science. Occam's Razor would suggest the reports are wrong, or false, rather than the miracles superceding known reality.

I, for one, appreciated the space alien side quest in Life of Brian. In the movie, it really happened. It was miraculous to the participant, Brian. And yet it was as unreal to him as any other probelm he encountered on his way to his crucifiction. Therein lies perhaps a lesson for us all.

Brick Rubbledrain म्हणाले...

I’ve been trying to locate a poem from the Grateful Dead universe, without success, for years. The only line I can remember goes
“ just got in from Cupertino, flying on a rake”

Tina Trent म्हणाले...

We are 15 minutes from the most solemn moment of the year for Catholics.

Marc in Eugene म्हणाले...

Broke down and re-subscribed to NYROB (although I guess we are supposed to say NYR in these latter days) to read this review. Will see if EM makes me want to read Carlos Eire's book.
While I have no doubt that the divine Omnipotence can make people fly I usually don't spend much time reading about them but this is the second time I've seen a review of the Eire book. "They Flew therefore purposely leaves a great deal unsaid. Eire never raises the inevitable next question: what would it mean for us, for our faith, if we accepted that Catholic saints such as Teresa and Joseph actually flew?" That's from Jan Machielsen's review in the TLS last December. Hmm. Instead of spending ten bucks on the NYR I probably ought to have spent 16 on the Kindle Eire.