Abstract

"For any speculation which does not at first glance appear crazy, there is no hope." F. Dyson. To understand the process that brings about the effects of gravitation we must change profoundly the way we perceive the world. We must discard the idea of an invisible "field" that causes gravitation and develop in its place the concept of a direct mechanical effect produced by a hydrodynamic ether. The key intellectual shift involves understanding that the omnipresent ether manifests equally well as open space or as material bodies. Thus objects cease to be separate entities and become local manifestations of the ether. The universal etheric context is always in motion and has a velocity gradient - dv/dr - at every point. It is the direction and magnitude of the etheric velocity gradient that determines the direction and strength of gravitational effects. This perceptual shift is as difficult and counterintuitive as the shift from the Ptolemaic to the Copernican view. Once mastered, it brings the same clarification to gravitational effects that Copernicus brought to the motions of heavenly bodies.