Book Title: Pale Blue Dot Author: Carl Sagan Year written/published: 1997 Book Source: Google Books, Library Summary: Human’s perception and conquest of the universe Some extracts:
Our fear of tininess…
But if our objective is deep knowledge rather than shallow reassurance, the gains from this new perspective far outweigh the losses. Once we overcome our fear of being tiny, we find ourselves on the threshold of a vast and awesome Universe that utterly dwarfs—in time, in space, and in potential—the tidy anthropocentric proscenium of our ancestors. We gaze across billions of light-years of space to view the Universe shortly after the Big Bang, and plumb the fine structure of matter. We peer down into the core of our planet, and the blazing interior of our star… We are right to rejoice in our accomplishments, to be proud that our species has been able to see so far, and to judge our merit in part by the very science that has so deflated our pretensions.
The garden and the sin…
So long as we were incurious and obedient, I imagine, we could console ourselves with our importance and centrality, and tell ourselves that we were the reason the Universe was made. As we began to indulge our curiosity, though, to explore, to learn how the Universe really is, we expelled ourselves from Eden. Angels with a flaming sword were set as sentries at the gates of Paradise to bar our return. The gardeners became exiles and wanderers. Occasionally we mourn that lost world, but that, it seems to me, is maudlin and sentimental. We could not happily have remained ignorant forever.
Cosmic Purpose…
The evidence, so far at least and laws of Nature aside, does not require a Designer. Maybe there is one hiding, maddeningly unwilling to be revealed. Sometimes it seems a very slender hope. The significance of our lives and our fragile planet is then determined only by our own wisdom and courage. We are the custodians of life’s meaning. We long for a Parent to care for us, to forgive us our errors, to save us from our childish mistakes. But knowledge is preferable to ignorance. Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable.
If we crave some cosmic purpose, then let us find ourselves a worthy goal.
Humbling us…
Even today, the most jaded city dweller can be unexpectedly moved upon encountering a clear night sky studded with thousands of twinkling stars. When it happens to me after all these years, it still takes my breath away.
In every culture, the sky and the religious impulse are intertwined. I lie back in an open field and the sky surround me. I’m overpowered by its scale. It’s so vast and so far away that my own insignificance becomes palpable. But I don’t feel rejected by the sky. I’m a part of it, tiny, to be sure, but everything is tiny compared to that overwhelming immensity, And when I concentrate on the stars, the planets, and their motions, I have an irresistible sense of machinery, clockwork, elegant precision working on a scale that, however lofty our aspirations, dwarfs and humbles us.
Make a radical change in your lifestyle & begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances & yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, & conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, & hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new & different sun. If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security & adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning & its incredible beauty.
There was a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend.?He read the dates on her tombstone from the beginning…to the end.
He noted first came the date of her birth and spoke the following date with tears, but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years.
For that dash stands for all the time that she spent alive on earth…?and only those who loved her know what that little line is worth.
It matters not, how much we own; the cars….the house…the cash.
What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.
So think about this long and hard…are there things you’d like to change??For you never know how much time is left that can still be re-arranged
If we would just slow down enough to consider what’s true and real and always try to understand the way that other’s feel. We’d be much less quick to anger and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives like we’ve never loved before.
So, when your eulogy’s being read and your life is being rehashed…would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your dash?
* Creative and productive
* Physically energetic and active
* Playful and entertaining
* Learning and developing
* Reflective and spiritual
* Restful and relaxing
