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.”

 

Alden 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…” Alden 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?”

 

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