Image credit. Nasa
The heavens are an ever-evolving symphony, with movements and sonatas dating back aeons, and stretching forward longer than we can fathom. We are just a piece, a single note, among trillions. The fact that you are here, and can even comprehend the tiniest bit of cosmology is incredible, the fact that you are one of many results of all of the cosmos is wonderful. We are links, tied together, in a multidimensional chain stretching out through time and space farther than any eye can see, and on the fringes of what our mathematics and scientific investigation can tell us. These are facts that exist, facts that invoke an emotion deeper than anything I can accurately describe. It is something deeper than anything I have felt during my short existence.
"How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, "This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant?" Instead they say, "No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way." A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths."
— Carl Sagan (Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space)
Great post, Paul. I'm looking forward to reading more.
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