India, July 18 -- We like to say we all look up at the same sky, but really, what we see can be vastly different.

Take the visible planets. In the Western tradition, they were named by the Ancient Roman after the gods that elicited a similar mood. The reddish Mars was named for the god of war; twinkling Venus for the deity of beauty and love; Mercury for the messenger god, because it seemed to vroom through the heavens so fast; Jupiter after the king of gods, because it was so much larger; and Saturn after the god of time, because it seemed to move so sedately and at its own pace.

On the other side of the world, in China, it was harmony in focus. The five planets were named after the five phases or stages of elements in nature, a system...