nature and wonder

Earth

"It's been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a

character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better

demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image

of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal

more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and

cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known." Carl Sagan

Now this is pretty awesome. I'm huge on astronomy, it's one of my few passions. It's the main reasons why I love summer nights, when it's clear and warm enough to stargaze.

It's why I love and relate to Carl Sagan so much, I could relate to his passion. I recently read one of his latest books and couldn't put it down. He had a lot to say about religion and was one of the first people I read about the subject. "By far the best way I know how to engage the religious sensibility, the sense of awe, is to look up on a clear night. I believe that it is very difficult to know who we are until we understand when and where we are."

I think one of the main reasons why my approach to religion seems so angsty and impatient is because I don't understand why people can't just say "I don't know". We don't know what happens when we die, and I just see it as so arrogant and ignorant to say otherwise. I think there is beauty in appreciating life, learning and understanding evolution. Educating yourself as much as you can. There is enough to worship and understand around us, who needs a fairytale?

If a creator God exists, would He or She prefer a kind of sodden blockhead who worships while understanding nothing? Or would He prefer His votaries to admire the real universe and all its intricacy? I would suggest that science is, in part, informed worship. My deeply held belief is that if a God exists, then our curiosity and intelligence are provided by such a God. We would be unappreciative of those gifts if we suppressed our passion to explore the universe and ourselves.