the supplicant. Yet we find in our hearts an impulse that seeks what is above, turning neither right nor left. Explain to us, then, this compelling impulse that we find in our hearts and with which we were naturally endowed.”
The reply is:
This question arises only from the mistaken supposition that half the celestial sphere lies beneath the earth and beneath the human beings and animals on its surface. This is a grave error. If the celestial sphere were beneath the earth on one side, it would be beneath it on every side. It would necessarily follow that the celestial sphere was beneath the earth without qualification. This reverses the facts, for the celestial sphere is above the earth without qualification.
The “astronomers” say: If a hole were bored through the earth in the direction of our feet, and a heavy object—such as a stone or the like—were dropped into it, it would come to rest at the centre. Even if another stone were dropped from that side, the two would meet at the centre. If two people, rather than two stones, were imagined meeting at the centre, their feet would meet, and neither would be beneath the other. Rather, both would be above the centre, and both would be beneath the celestial sphere.
The same applies to east and west. If one man were in the east, whether in the sky or on earth, and another in the west, whether in the sky or on earth, neither would be beneath the other. This would be so whether his head, feet, belly, back, or side faced the sky or the earth. If either sought what is above the celestial sphere, he would seek it only upwards, not in the direction of his feet, his right, or his left, for two reasons:
(First, what he seeks is nearer to him in the upward direction than in any other direction. If a man or an angel were imagined ascending to heaven or to what is above it, then his ascent in the direction of his head would be