Orffyreus exhibited his perpetual motion machines in various towns-
Gera (1712), Draschwitz (1714), Merseburg ( 1716) and Kassel (at Castle of Weissenstein) ( 1717). For the rest of his life,
he tried hard to settle negotiations to sell his machine until he died. He happily
allowed the most stringent tests to be carried out to determine authenticity of his wheels. All evidence faithfully recorded
by learned man shows that no sign of fraud was ever discovered. He did everything
without ever having revealed his secret. As he wanted a reward of 100000 Thalers
for his invention, he never disclosed the secret to any one except Count Karl. People took him to be a greedy person but it
was not the case. By this money, he wanted to fulfill his dream of running his
institute called "Fortress Of God", a Christianity-based, international school of engineering where mechanical arts would
be taught for the benefit of the students. Orffyreus also clarified that it was essential to ask for such a huge amount because
his invention was so simple that he was afraid that if he disclosed the working mechanism, any one would laugh at the simplicity
of the invention, might copy it, and then no one would consider 100000 Thalers worth for the invention. As we know from the account given in previous pages, there was lack of trust on both sides and for this
reason things did not turn up well, as Orfyyreus had desired. Despite his fair terms and conditions, all negotiations failed
and eventually Orffyreus took his secret to graveyard. He died in poverty. With shattered dreams, however Orffyreus had a hope that sooner or later posterity would acknowledge his merit and would know the truth of his invention. In his
lifetime, he was criticized and people described him as a greedy and eccentric person. But we cannot blame Orffyreus; the
nature of invention of perpetual motion itself is such that no one will succeed without trouble. One requires life long effort to succeed and invention is often fraught with failures. When it is achieved, next battle begins. It put inventor into a dilemma and obsession to get a reward amidst
a difficult environment. Inventor is sure to face all kinds of tensions. Without
hard work people wants to know secret. Without reason people falsely argue about
perpetual motion and try to discredit it. Without evidence, they criticize inventor
as fraudulent inventor. Orffyreus’ invention had the same doom. However,
Orffyreus felt that he was responsible for causing lot of troubles to those who desired to learn about the secret of his invention
in his lifetime. He also believed that future generation would also speculate
about his invention and he must help them indirectly in their speculations to rightly understand his perpetual motion and
eventually reach to its secret. As an expression of regret at having caused trouble
for such people, and not letting the secret open to the people in his time, and with hope that coming generation will understand
his invention he wrote Apologia Poetica in a coded form. Written in poetic form in Latin and German, his book is a formal
defense of his invention.
According to John Collins “Apologia was written in rhyming
couplets when Bessler was about to come under the protection of Karl the Landgrave of Hesse. It is an autobiography of his
life up to that point and describes among other things, his search for a solution to PM. He gives many teasing references
to the way the machine worked and includes several coded messages which have so far proved indecipherable, apart from some
minor ones.”
Orffyreus didn’t want unworthy people to learn his secret easily
so he decided to write his work in metaphoric language so that any one working hard on his invention would be inspired enough
to get vital clues from his codes and drawings. In his little book, he tries to explain the reasons for guarding the secret
and for asking a huge amount for the invention for which he struggled through
out his life. No negotiation came to fruition as people failed to understand him and his invention, unnecessarily, they criticized
and misunderstood his invention and himself.
Collins has made good researches on Apologia Poetica. Collin’s
researches suggest that Apologia Poetica was written in 1717, which was also the year of construction of the inventor’s
largest wheel. (p. 182 ) Orffyreus wrote in altered early 18th century German
on the title page of his Poetica Apologia. Collins observed that the odd capitals contain the date DIDVCCVVDI [or DDDCCVVVII]
or 1717 using Roman numerals. Again on p. 227, Collins mentions that on the page prior [to Bessler’s “little book”],
“he brings to our attention again, the date of 1717.”
A version of 'Apologia
Poetica' is now available from him. Collins explains how Orffyreus learnt special
art to hide some secret. He says ‘As was his custom, Orfyreus extracted
as much knowledge as he could from the old man, learning something of Hebrew, and ancient Hieroglyphics, “the language
of nature and the writings of angels”.1 (P.25).
Collins indicates that the original language version is from the
Apologia or rather the Poetica” Alden E. Park observes that some of the ancient literary forms that have been discovered
in “The Book of Mormon” also seem to appear in Bessler’s “little book.” As to why this should be, he partly guesses that Bessler,
the avid student and scholar, was (in Collins’book pp. 25-26, 185, 190 ) seen to be an intermediary between the Jesuit
priest and the elderly Rabbi in Prague.
Alden E. Park2 also speculates on this point:
“It seems quite reasonable that the association with the Rabbi
may have in part allowed Bessler to acquire some highly specialized knowledge of little known ancient literary forms. These ancient literary forms may include Hebraic poetry, allegory, figurative language,
imagery, and symbolic types.”
“Bessler was apparently quite a student of the scriptures and
so was able to disguise or hide the meaning of the words of his “little book” parable so though seeing, unprepared
others might not see what the words meant, and hearing the words, they might not hear what was meant.”
In the following paragraph, Alden E.Park also explains meaning of
parable and he speculates why Orffyreus wrote his book in this form.
He writes:
“Bessler's "little book" is surrounded by three chiastic levels
(shown on the first and last pages of Bessler's Apologia) thus making the Apologia a tenth level extended chiasm. According
to him Bessler’s “little book” contains hidden-chiastic Hebraic-poetic parables.”
“Bessler’s “little book” is coded (with the assistance of literary devices) according to a
very old (if not the oldest) method for “coding” scriptural messages. That
is the method of symbolic representation or in other words it is a parable. See
“Parables” in the Bible Dictionary (near the back of The Holy Bible published in 1979 by The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints). Parables are typically used to withhold information from
those who are not yet spiritually ready to receive the message. The person can
hear the words but may not hear or understand the full message. The person seeing
the symbolic message sees but may not see the intended hidden message unless the person has enough training and spiritual
preparation (in large part faith and intelligence) to receive it. One needs to
seek to find the meaning of a parable. Typically parables or such symbolism can
survive the language translation process if the language translation is good. Still
it can be helpful if the language translator understands the hidden level (or levels) of meaning to make sure that the hidden
message is still available in the new language. The skill, intelligence, and
spirituality of the parable designer have much to do with the language translation survivability process. The proper interpretation of a parable contains the intended message(s) of the parable, when it was first
given.”
Orffyreus’ ‘declaration of faith’
Apologia Poetica opens with a separate section entitled “declaration of faith” and ends with a diagram
on the last page. In the section “declaration of faith” (see
Appendix B or pp. 228-230 in Collins’ book) Orffyreus gives 140 scriptural references, which deals with his machine,
his personal life, his faith in God, and further relations between man and God possibly associated with the pendulum.
Collins speculates that decoding the Biblical references contained
in Orffyreus’ declaration of faith could provide vital information about the secret. Realizing the importance of Besseler’s
pendulum sure to bring the energy revolution, one such attempt to decode Apologia Poetica has been made Alden. E. Park. In
his long article “Some Thoughts on a Simple Explanation of Bessler’s Wheel: Bessler’s Wheel Uncovered with
an Interpretation of Bessler’s Little Book- A Delayed Gift to the World.”, Park writes:
“I think that an attempted interpretation of Bessler’s “little book” (showing his pendulum
with its lost Orffyrean technology) is long overdue. This is my attempt at a
symbolic interpretation of Bessler’s “little book” (first encoded passage) which may be found in translated
English (pp. 225-226 and almost all the original German pp. 226-227) in Appendix A of John Collins’ book.”
Elden E.Park is currently a Home Teacher in the Ridgecrest First
Ward and a staff member at the local Family History Center (though without an official calling to it). In August 2000, he changed from being a Ward Clerk to being a First Counselor in an Elders Quorum Presidency. In September 2000, he changed from being a Committee Member for Boy Scout Troop 68
to a Committee Member for Varsity Scout Team 68.
In his paper entitled “Some Thoughts on a Simple Explanation
of Bessler's Wheel”, Park acknowledges that with the help of God he has attempted to decode Bessler’s hidden chiastic
parable a three-centaury old problem, without actually constructing the working invention. He does not want to keep his work
of Bessler wheel discoveries secret, therefore he has published to the world. And
he claims:
“ From a technical standpoint, I am guessing that I have decoded
at least 90% of the technical specifications regarding the Bessler pendulum.
He writes further:
“I have been willing to share what I know without asking for
any portion of the 100,000 thaler invention price that Bessler asked for (see Collins' book pp. 54, 102, 123, 137, 141, 159,
171). (Scouts and adult scouters do not expect or accept payment when they "Do
a good turn daily." ). With God's help, I have been trying to be an old friend
to the world in helping to pass on the greatly delayed gift by providing an interpretation of Bessler's "little book" that
the world somehow did not seem to be able to provide for itself.”
In his long article “Some thoughts on…” Elden E.Park
claims that by much pondering and study, he has decoded at least 90% of the technical specifications regarding the Bessler
pendulum.
His long speculations on technical aspects of invention are not up
to the mark and leads reader nowhere. To save the space; therefore, I would avoid
any further discussion of technical details he has decoded from Apologia Poetica to learn Orffyreus’ invention . However,
his interpretation of “declaration of faith” conveys the essence of what Orffyreus really wanted to speak in opening
section of his Apologia Poetica. Below are few excerpts taken from Park’s
his long article.
Rationale for Apologia
In a reproduced form, Alden E.Park gives following interpretation
of declaration of faith.
Orffyreus speaks:
“I, Orffyreus, ask thee the words of our Lord God, (Q5) “Are ye also yet without understanding?”
as we read in Matth. XV, vs.16. Those with a mature understanding of my perpetual
mobile of 1717 will see the physical evidence before them of my completed invention in my little book poetic proper. If you understand, then you will be able to understand my words. Those with penetrating questions regarding my invention should ask such questions and they will in many
cases receive answers from this little book. My little book starts out small
but it grows considerably as the valuable symbols are partially expanded. This
expansion grows in part according to the extension of “my little book” to include this entire 1716-1717 booklet
of mine, Poetica Apologia. My deeds will be revealed according to God’s
will but with the help of God they will not be revealed before I am willing, though in hindsight it will be quite clear that
I did and wrote of them earlier. My deeds and inventions will begin to be revealed
when people begin to catch the vision of my invention. I have written my little
book riddle so that only with a mature or complete understanding of how my invention actually works, can one fully understand
or appreciate why I have chosen the symbols that I have chosen. With proper understanding,
many portions of my little book can be viewed according to many levels symbolically.
Hearken to the scriptures for further help in the symbolic interpretations. If
anyone lacks a mature understanding of my invention, he will need to speculate about the truth of my invention and see if
my little book confirms his speculations. If anyone wants to guess about the
truth of my invention, he needs to carefully ponder upon the loosely-depicted symbolically-rich drama of words that I now
cause to rain down upon him from above (with each rain drop from heaven representing a portion of the total picture of the
shower). A mighty shower can begin with just a few properly understood dew drops
from heaven. The riches of the eternities await those who do according to the
loving dictates showered down from their Father in heaven.”
“I have spoken softly of these marvels so that my enemies in
mortality would not grow wise about my invention. The devil and his followers
(though they do not want this truth revealed to the world) have sorely strived to anger me (often though not exclusively through
the scorn, accusations, and figurative spit of disbelief of my mortal enemies)so that I would either not be competition for
my mortal enemies or I would reveal my invention to my own personal loss (and they claim that they knew it all along). Though I acknowledge that my pride has many times caused great problems for me as
I have yielded to the binding snares of the devil, with my repentance I now do not believe that God requires that I just reveal
this thing from God (to a greedy world) by simply casting aside the wheel-mantle-covering of my inner "wheel-pendulum" without
being properly paid for my invention.”
“Though I almost appeared to apologize to you for not revealing
the details of my art at the end of this Apologia [see pp. 181, 189 of Collin's book], there was really no reason to so subjunctively
apologize, as you now see I did reveal my arts to those who were not blind. For
those who were not blind or for those who could penetrate my parable, I did in a way cast aside the covering mantle that covered
my inner working wheel-pendulum (and all other new wheel levels within). My symbolic casting aside the covering mantle-wheel
concealing my wheel-pendulum was done
to thwart the devil's desire (of keeping the pendulum hidden) without
giving away my invention.
I speak softly by not further revealing about the invention so that
the enemies of God might not stir up others in anger against misunderstood wisdom concerning the symbolic pendulum from God. This is why this little book will not be opened up or uncovered further at this point. First, the enemies of the all loving God need to be given a chance to be friends of
God through repentance. Then they can open it up by themselves if they desire
to do so. When you have physically fully uncovered my new wheel-pendulum (whether
by purchase or otherwise) and see this miracle from God actually working as I have described, I then uncover for you the more
important continued or higher levels of further opening my little book riddle which the devil especially does not want you
to solve as you turn to God. The devil does not want you to turn to God in the
least amount. The devil wants you to just gently gravitate towards or stick to
him while he on very rare occasion might whisper such a lie in the sound of your own thought voice as, "There is no devil."
that he might gently lead and bind you with threads and thicker threads until he eventually sees you bound with his mighty
chains of dark destruction, except ye repent. There is much more to my pendulum than meets the eye. Still, I warn you not to worship the pendulum as an idol. Use
righteous imagination in your pondering further about my or rather God's working symbolic pendulum. Thus, my final question unto thee (from this little book) is quite like the question our Lord and Master,
the Great Jew, Jesus the Messiah (even Alpha and Omega) asked in Matth. XV,. v. 16,
(Q7) Are ye also yet without full understanding?”
1 J.Collins book – Perpetual
Motion : An Ancient Mystery Solved ? Page- 25
2
Elden E. Park – his article- “Some Thoughts on a Simple Explanation of
Bessler’s Wheel: Bessler’s Wheel Uncovered with an Interpretation of Bessler’s
Little Book- A Delayed Gift to the World.”