There is no Free Energy

Space and ‘field’ phenomena; Nature and sub-nature

by An Anonymous Friend

This work is founded on the impulse of Rudolf Steiner, and is an extension of the work of Goethe. Hopefully what follows will be a helpful and further contribution to the ongoing interest in areas falling outside the traditions of mainstream science…

There are discussions in the alternative fields of thought on the idea of the possibility of free energy, which I take to mean the construction of an electrical-magnetic device whose output exceeds its input I have no problem with the idea that such a device can be, and may already have been, developed. I believe, however, it would be a serious error to conceive that the energy surplus is free. unless one only means to speak in terms of monetary considerations. The “energy” always comes from some “place”, and cannot in any sense be considered newly created. This is not to say that in the totality of cosmic happenings there is no newly created matter or energy, but rather that any electrical-mechanical process can only transmute one thing into another thing. Creative processes are of a whole other order, and while they can be observed in Nature, they are presently beyond man’s capacity to reproduce, except with regard to creative transformations in his own soul life (spiritual self development).

Leaving that aside, I would like to consider the problem of where might such surplus “energy” come from, assuming that by normal means of measurement we are already in a situation where the output exceeds the input. In looking at this question I want to be concerned primarily with the conception of “space”, secondarily with the conception of “force” and lastly with the distinction between Nature and sub-nature. I will be relying primarily on four works: Ernst Lehrs, Man or Matter; and George Adams, Space and the Light of Creation. Physical and Ethereal Spaces and Universal Forces in Mechanics.

Before this,however, a few words should probably be said concerning the history of these ideas. The poet Goethe was also a natural scientist of quite unique capabilities. His scientific work languished until Rudolf Steiner re-awakened interest in it, and since Steiner’s time there has come into being a Goetheanistic Natural Science, which has yet only a few practitioners. Anyone who wishes to understand this new science should make the acquaintance of Lehrs’ book (above), which is subtitled: Introduction to a Spiritual Understanding of Nature on the Basis of Goethe’s Method of Training Observation and Thought. In addition it will be a desirable goal to come to terms with the philosophical/epistemological problems outlined in Steiner’s The Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe’s World Conception.

The threshold problem, which for obvious reasons many people refuse to recognize, can be stated in the following way. Behind the world of phenomena stands a world of invisible Beings. To come then to a true understanding of the natural world, and of man and man’s role in it, it is necessary to come to an awareness and appreciation of Beings. Such knowledge cannot be won in a one-sided fashion. We cannot force Nature to reveal secrets. Rudolf Steiner puts it this way (and in this recapitulates a very old approach): the laboratory must become an altar. True science is moral science, moral both in terms of the method of investigation as well as in application.

Now there is no question that mankind has forced from Nature certain “powers” which man applies for his needs and desires. But man does not understand these “powers”, or Nature, but rather weaves for himself an illusion. Moreover, this illusion is very seductive, and has the capacity to lead man away from his own true nature, from real self knowledge, and to make of man a slave of the “powers” he worships. We all see this plainly as these “powers” more and more build their “body” in the age of the computer networks. A vast intelligence creates for itself an “electronic” nervous system, and weaves for itself a pseudo-persona, the mask of the friendly servant

Not all the secrets of electricity have been discovered. Not all the “powers” evoked. The work of Keely,Tesla et al shows this clearly. The problem is: will man continue to invent new devices without realizing just with what he is dealing? Or, will he trouble himself to do more, to penetrate with his thinking Nature’s workshop, so that man is the master and not the slave.

In what follows it will only be possible to suggest a certain way of looking at phenomena. The reader who really wants to penetrate with his thinking these mysteries, and therefore be free of the seduction of electrical “powers”, will have to make his own way through the material.

What is electricity? Electricity is a special condition of “space”. We see this whenever we make a spark leap a gap. Before the leap, in the empty “space” between the leads, there is an increase of electrical potential, that is a “field” condition arises. Simultaneously with the spark, the “field” collapses. When the so-called alternating current is “moving” though a wire we have a cyclically potentiating and collapsing “field” present The wire, by its spatial presence, constantly collapses the “field”. While this is far too Wsf, it has hints enough so that we can see that it is necessary to understand “space” a bit better.

Of all the illusory conceptions of modem mainstream science, one of the more fundamental concerns the idea of space. Ordinarily we conceive of space as this vast empty container, which at some time in the past (the big bang) becomes filled with substance, which then organizes itself through the most amazing series of fortuitous accidents. Setting that aside, we can consider, as an alternative, the idea that space itself was created.

George Adam’s small book. Space and the Light of Creation, investigates this question as a problem in mathematical physics utilizing the conceptions of a special mathematics called either projective or synthetic geometry. The chapter headings are quite intriguing: 1. The Radiation of Space; 2. The Music of Number; 3. The Burden of Weight and the Sacrifice of Warmth. It is not possible to duplicate these ideas here, but a few hints can at least lead the reader in the right direction.