Figuring - Only the dreamer wakes
Just read the first chapter of Maria Popova's Figuring. It was the story of Johannes Kepler. Many of the scientific laws related to gravity and space travel was based upon his work. Surprising that many discoveries attributed to later scientists were actually mentioned by him in his works, two or three centuries earlier. By this account, he is a great man who laid the foundations for many or our modern discoveries and knowledge of the world as we know it.
However, in his attempt to make his argument comprehensible to the layman, it caused his mother to be embroiled in witch trials and imprisonment, subject to much suffering for about five to six years, and dying shortly after her release. He set about writing extensive footnotes to The Dream, the work that had caused all the trouble.
What really struck me in his story was how he persisted in completing the printing of the book despite not having enough money to do so. He had no money, and was in bad health, but still travelled to borrow money and finish printing The Dream. Why? Would I have done it if I were in that situation? Do I even have something I believe in, that I would do anything even if it means spending all my money while my health is failing? Most of us don't, and more often than not, the common person pursues money and health itself. I wish I had something that I believed vehemently in, that I would give up everything for. That way, I would feel like my life had a little more purpose.
