Tristesse
Ancient astronomer-priests observed that shadows shifted in non-random ways, indicating there was order in the universe. About every 360 days a shadow would be at its longest in exactly the same place. More evidence of order. Over time holy days were synchronized with the passage of the sun. Over time more accurate measurements were possible. The astronomer-priests didn’t realize it, but their holy days and their accurate measurements were on a collision course.
The globe spins on its axis 365.2421896698 times for each time it encircles the sun. That unruly decimal baffled and infuriated the ancient astronomer-priests. Where they’d once seen order, they now saw disorder. What sort of Supreme Being would create and rule over a world that was out of true like a wobbly wheel? Surely an all-powerful god would devise a world that operated on whole numbers. Generations of astronomers, priests, and natural philosophers struggled in vain to find a way to force the spinning of the globe to fit a whole number calendar. Astronomy and religion gradually parted company, each seeking order in the universe in their own way.
Tonight much of the world will celebrate (or already has celebrated) the passing of one year to the next. We treat this as a significant occasion, gravid with meaning and import. Fireworks will be ignited, toasts will be given, resolutions will be made, prayers will be offered; there will be a great deal of excitement and disappointment and general ballyhoo. And tonight, astronomers around the globe will adjust the world’s most precise atomic clocks by a full second to keep the calendar accurate. Order in the universe continues to elude us.
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