POE'S COSMIC THEORY

        It is said that Poe’s conception of the structure and functioning of the universe may be found in his prose poem, “Eureka.”  Should you want to read “Eureka” yourself, just follow the link to the poem.  It is further declared that Poe explained “Eureka” several times himself in letters to his correspondents.  The question, of course, is why we should bother reading a simplified version of Poe’s cosmic theory.  The answer to that question, I believe, is that through a basic understanding of his theory, we can come to a fuller understanding of the concerns and the scenarios that we find in Poe’s fiction.  According to Arthur Hobson Quinn in his Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography, “[t]he most inclusive explanation was sent to Eveleth on February 29, 1848:” (542).

The General Proposition is this—because Nothing was, therefore All Things are.

1—An inspection of the universality of Gravitation—i.e., of the fact that each particle tends, not top any one common point, but to every other particle—suggests perfect totality or absolute unity, as the source of the phenomenon.

2—Gravity is but the mode in which is manifested the tendency of all things to return into their original unity—is but the reaction of the first Divine Act.

3—The law regulating the return—i.e., the law of Gravitation—is but a necessary result of the necessary and sole possible mode of equable irradiation of matter through space: this equable irradiation is necessary as a basis for the Nebular Theory of Laplace.

4—The Universe of Stars (contradistinguished from the Universe of Space) is limited.

5—Mind is cognizant of Matter only through its two properties, attraction and repulsion: therefore Matter is only attraction and repulsion: a finally consolidated globe-of-globes, being but one particle, would be without attraction—i.e., gravitation: the existence of such a globe presupposed the expulsion of the separative ether which we know to exist between the particles as at present diffused: thus the final globe would be matter without attraction and repulsion: but these are matter—i.e., no matter at all: it must disappear.  This Unity is Nothingness.

6—Matter, springing from Unity, sprang from Nothingness—i.e., was created.

 7—All will return to Nothingness, in returning to Unity.

As we can see, Poe’s theory allows for the creation of the known universe by a Primum Mobile, a First Mover.  Creation, however, what Poe would call the radiation of atoms from the primordial particle at the center, is ongoing. And that is part of the problem.  Let us begin with Poe’s ideas of the nature of matter itself.

The Nature of Matter

Poe’s Universe consists of “a particle—absolutely unique, individual, undivided, and not indivisible only because He [since it has been seen fit to capitalize this masculine pronoun, it would be fair to assume that God is meant] who created it, by dint of his Will, can by an infinitely less energetic exercise of the same Will, as a matter of course, divide it.”  Thus, “this Oneness is a principle abundantly sufficient to account for the constitution, the existing phaenomena and the plainly inevitable annihilation of at least the material Universe.”

“Variety out of Unity”

There is a first or “primordial” force behind the central/controlling “particle” in the Universe.  Within this particle lies “absolute unity.”  “Absolute unity in the primordial particle includes that of infinite divisibility. From one Particle at the center a certain inexpressibly great yet limited number of unimaginably yet not infinitely minute atoms radiate. . . .in all directions to immeasurable but still to definite distances in the previously vacant space.”   In other words, there are within the one particle at the center of the universe, a humanly unknowable number of atoms ready to be disbursed.  Poe means by this that the number is vast, but there are nevertheless a finite, or limited number of atoms available for disbursement.  Only the force behind the center knows when the number of atoms will be “used up.”  The atoms are disbursed or “radiated” into the vastness of space, whose dimensions are unknown to human thought, but are nevertheless, like the atoms themselves limited: the vastness of space can be filled by the radiation of atoms from the primordial particle.  Poe speculates that there is, therefore, a radiating force, emitting a number of atoms in “one instantaneous flash” and forcing them outward from a center until they are loosely distributed over the interior surface of a sphere—then another exercise of the same force sending others out, in concentric strata, till they come down at length to the central point.

Poe also speculates on the necessity of a repulsive force setting a limit to the coalition of atoms up to a certain epoch.  He acknowledges that he is not very clear on this point.  I believe here that he is attempting to explain the suspension of the disbursed atoms into the sphere in the face of gravitational pull.  In short, I think that he means that atoms are being released in all directions at all times, and that they form the matter of the “created” universe as we perceive it.  The trees, the people, the earth itself.  Now these very atoms have a tendency to return to the center of unity (to the primordial particle), and what prevents them from collapsing toward that source is the constant emission of new atoms which rather engage (without actually touching) their predecessors, creating an “energy field” as it were which prevents one set of atoms from “falling” through another set to the source or center itself.  Thus while one set of (“upper”) atoms are “attracted” to the center of unity, it is also repulsed/prevented from moving in that direction by a newer or “lower” (to the center) stratum of more recently “radiated” atoms.  Poe himself says that “Gravity is a reaction—the desire of Matter [the created universe as we perceive it] to return to the Unity from which it came.  The tendency is for atoms to return to the center—not a center in space, but a condition of unity—because along the straight line joining the atom at the centre there are a greater number of atoms than along any other straight line.”

“Attraction and Repulsion,” he says, “are the sole properties through which we perceive the universe—in other words by which Matter is manifested to the Mind—matter exists only as attraction and repulsion—that Attraction and Repulsion are Matter. . . .No other principles exist.”  Attraction for Poe is equivalent to the body, to the material, while Repulsion is equivalent to the soul, the spiritual.  Imagine the universe as we see it as comprised countless strata of atoms suspended in the form of matter (our visible universe).  Imagine that beyond our perception countless additional atoms are being radiated from one unified particle toward the countless strata of suspended atoms.  What we perceive as matter wants to return to the single particle from which it came, but in its attempt to do so, it is stalled at the “energy field” between the suspended matter of the perceived universe and the “incoming” atoms being released from the single particle.  We can only know what we perceive, and what we perceive is the matter available on our side of the “energy field.”  What lies beyond that field can only be imagined. It becomes a somewhat complex matter, therefore, to know where the “real” and the “imagined” universe begin and end.

Now there are at least two scenarios possible in this situation.  Since the number of atoms radiated from the primordial particle are finite, there will, one day, be no more to be released.  The more Matter that appears, the more that is created, the fewer atoms there are that are available, and the closer the universe comes to collapse.  If no more atoms are there to be released, then the principle of attraction and repulsion breaks down.  In short, the universe does not hold up: it collapses inward to the center, returning to the single unified particle from which it came.  A second possibility yields the same results.  Remember that the vastness of space is nonetheless not infinite: it can be filled.  As a consequence, the more atoms that are released, the less area that remains for atoms to occupy.  When the available space becomes filled, chaos would seem to be the result, and the principle of attraction and repulsion breaks down as gravity succeeds in allowing the tendency of matter to return to the unified particle.  The universe collapses inward. And this is what Poe means when he speaks of “inevitable annihilation” of the universe. 

Now this not only happens in the space outside of the earth, but on it as well, as Poe declares that every earthly thing has “a tendency not only to the Earth’s center but in every conceivable direction besides.” Think of the human body after death, of its burial, of the atomic breakdown of the body itself and its return to the earth from whence it came. What seems to concern Poe is not whether the universe will eventually collapse, so much as whether individual consciousness will continue to exist after death (when the light goes out in the individual universe) when the atoms comprising the human body find their way back to the central unified particle or whether there will be simple nothingness. Is this part of the reason for Poe’s use of catalepsy, of being buried alive, of the activity in the tomb/grave?  What happens after death?  Will we simply be annihilated?  We may not be buried at the center of the earth after death, but we are beneath the surface and over time, “tending” not only toward its center but ultimately toward the primordial particle.

And what of the human mind?  Supposing Poe had decided to use the mind as an allegorical demonstration of the principles he describes.  Suppose that he considered the possibility that the brain might function along the same principles as the universe.  That is, that the brain contains a finite number of atoms for creativity, and, with each act of creativity carried out by the mind, the number of available atoms for creativity, for rational thought, were proportionately reduced.  What might be the result?  Heightened sensitivity?  Would the mind inevitably “run out of atoms”and collapse?  Be annihilated?  Would insanity be the result?  Where might we test the theory?  Does the theory work with creative people? What would happen to works of art if this theory is true, and the imagination of the artist was “running out” of atoms for creativity? These are the reasons for presenting this information, and these are important aspects of Poe’s thoughts to keep in mind when we read Poe’s stories.

THE COSMOS RATIONALITY AND IRRATIONALITY ATOMS USED UP=NOTHINGNESS.

In a sense, by identifying art with death [Usher], Poe is saying that art, paradoxically, ceases to exist in the degree that it attains its goal [so does the artist]. Similarly, on a more philosophical level, he maintained in Eureka (XVI, 310-311) that the conversion of rational structure into absolute unity simultaneously coverts the world into absolute nothingness. In "The Colloquy of Monos and Una," while the "wreck and the chaos of the usual senses" are revelatory, the reality to which they lead is nihilistic (IV, 209-212). Its mere "duration" amounts to non-entity: "For that which was not—for that which had no form—for that which had no thought—for that which had no sentience—for that which was soulless, yet of which matter formed no portion—for all this nothingness, yet for all this immortality, the grave was still a home, and the corrosive hours, co-mates" (italics in text).

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