Revolutionary, world-changing discoveries are often initially greeted with suspicion, rejection and hostility and in the 20th century, perhaps no one experienced this principle more harshly than the psychologist, astronomer and historian Immanuel Velikovsky. Dr. Velikovsky hypothesized, based upon his readings of the Old Testament, that some sort of catastrophe affected the Earth in the days of the Exodus. After ten years of research, Velikovsky published "Worlds In Collision" in 1950, which not only confirmed the catastrophe but advanced the Catastrophic Theory of the solar system with unprecedented elaboration. The book was very popular among the general public but was savagely attacked by the Scientific Establishment of his time, including boycotts of the book's publisher and the firing of astronomers who dared to defend the book.
One of the reasons "Worlds In Collision" was scathingly denounced was because it challenged the then-prevailing Uniformist view, the view that everything in the solar system was formed at the same time, billions of years ago, and that it has remained static ever since. Velikovsky's work shows that our solar system is actually dynamic, quickly evolving, and that it has probably only been in its current form about 2,700 years. Velikovsky knew that the ancient solar system is understood best by the people who observed it firsthand and he is committed to learning their story. He proves to be an excellent researcher, pulling a large number of documents (some of them deeply obscured) from the historical record in order to make the case for catastrophe.
Around 1500 B.C., a comet of unfathomable size approached the Earth as it revolved around the sun. It assaulted the Earth with red dust, meteorites and liquid hydrocarbons. Venturing closer, the comet slowed down the rotation of the Earth, causing prolonged periods of day and night, a phenomenon mentioned in both the Book Of Exodus and the Book Of Joshua. The comet's influence caused earthquakes and hurricanes to form. It pulled the Earth's tides miles into the sky and blasted our planet with discharges of celestial lightning. At its most extreme, the comet caused the Earth to tilt on its axis so that the sun rose in the West. Entirely new mountain ranges were formed and islands (including possibly Atlantis) sank into the sea. The entire human race was affected and countless people died. Accounts of this interstellar chaos appear in the historical and religious traditions of peoples all over the world: the Hebrews, the Greeks, the Mayans, the Chinese and Japanese, the Finns and Slavs, the tribes of Africa and the Maoris of New Zealand.
What was this terrible comet? It was nothing less than the planet Venus itself. The earliest astronomical tablets from Babylon and India do not mention Venus at all, convincing Velikovsky that the planet is a newcomer to the solar system and that it erupted from deep inside Jupiter. Curiously, various mythologies concern themselves with the birth of Venus, but not the births of any other deities.
After several centuries of silence, Venus' reign of terror reawakened in the 7th century B.C., when it managed to throw Mars out of its orbit, an orbit that was originally closer to the Sun than Earth's. Mars waged a brutal war with Venus before it was hurled towards the Earth to further affect life here. Some time after this second act, both Mars and Venus settled down into their current orbits.
"Worlds In Collision" is an incredible book, a profound, exciting epic, staggering in its implications. It explains that the Bible basically is historically accurate. It solves the mystery of when Homer wrote "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" and the genesis of stories like Zeus' battle with Typhon. It sheds light on why comets have been regarded as dark omens throughout history. It laid the groundwork for current theories of dinosaur extinction and emphasized the important role of electromagnetism in celestial mechanics. It touches upon every aspect of human existence and describes how the cosmos is something far more fantastic and dangerous than we were expecting.
Velikovsky began to receive acceptance after he used his theory to make several remarkable predictions about the solar system: the existence of radio waves eminating from Jupiter, the strange rotation and scorching hot temperature of Venus, the scarring of Mars' surface, the intense magnetism of the moon's rocks...and yet the attacks from Scientific Orthodoxy continued, culminating in the kangaroo court that was the American Association For The Advancement Of Science symposium of 1974, in which a cadre of disgraceful "scientists" (including Carl Sagan) lined up to take their shot at "refuting" Velikovsky while misrepresenting his basic ideas! Such is the dogmatism of the mind that is incapable of reconsidering its premises, a dogmatism that is pervasive within the mainstream intelligentsia, witness the attacks on anti-vaccinists, World War II revisionists and critics of manmade climate change today.
While his major thesis is probably undeniable, some more minor elements in the mix are doubtful, such as his reliance on suspect Freudian theories of repression and unconsciousness to explain human reaction to the catastrophes. Several of his interpretations of phenomena may also need reworking but these problems can easily be forgiven in light of the book's tremendous strengths.
Truth cannot remain submerged forever and sooner or later, the world will know that in eras past, there were catastrophes upon the Earth. Immanuel Velikovsky will be vindicated someday. 250 years from now, his name will be spoken with the same reverence given to Galileo and Kepler today. Until that time comes, read "Worlds In Collision" and appreciate it for what it is: Velikovsky's transformation of the legendary into reality.
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I’m here as a result of my dream last night. I dreamed about this word and I keep saying it till I woke up. As soon as I woke up I searched it and I found this book. Now I’m curious! I’m going to purchase this book and try to read it on my school break. I wonder why I dreamed of it. 🧐 welp!
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Alain Wenckebach
Awakening for understanding better old Myths and today's Astronomie
Reviewed in France on January 25, 2019
