That's Saturn, by the way, as recently photographed by the Cassini space probe approximately 43.1 million miles away from the ringed giant. It occurred to me as I saw this picture on NBC's
Nightly News with Tom Brokaw how little time I spend thinking about space; or rather, I reflected upon how little time
we spend thinking of space.
That's not to say that there aren't many qualified people staring up at the heavens and pondering their great mysteries. No, it is the mass
we, the cultural collective, that does not give enough thought to the condition of the universe. We are obsessed with distractions, minor details which detract from the larger picture.
When I was younger, I wanted to be an astronomer; which is ironic, because I now have quite a disdain for the traditional sciences. The conceptual reality of science is of little interest to me today, but when I was younger, I would read Hawking for fun. And this was at age 13. To me there was nothing as fascinating as trying to unlock the secrets of physical space. I did a lot of reading in those days, reading which my mother regrets me doing, as it gave me the evidence I needed to give up on God's will as an explanation for everything. I was devoted to science, to space, and to understanding the bigger picture.
But somewhere along the line, science and I went our separate ways. I still trusted in the sciences to provide answers to universal questions. But I realized that it was not for me to pursue. Math anxieties and disabilities, as well as my dislike of the one answer nature of science, pushed me away from my dream.
But this picture brought me back to a time when I wondered.
There has been a lot of discussion here lately of religion, and I admit that I am somewhat guilty, as I have used my keen interest in theological matters to add fuel to the fire. But as I sat and looked at that giant ball of gas surrounded by its frigid rings floating in the blackness of space I realized how very unimportant our arguments are.
In fact, everything is relatively unimportant. We make big deals out of just about everything. Read the posts on here and you'll know what I mean. But especially unimportant is religious bickering. Who killed who, what is real and what is not, how a deity can be split but be the same; these are questions that are difficult, if not impossible to answer. And does the answer matter? Maybe. Or then again maybe not.
I would like to gather around all of those who fight over religion, whether they are Muslim, Christian, Jew, Pagan, Buddhist, Discordian, etc., and bring them to Saturn. I have no dramatic purpose or speech. I just want to bring them there. I just want a moment where we connect and realize the futility of everything we rabidly defend. I just want us to be quiet and feel the universe around us.
For one moment in time, I want everyone to realize that we are floating on a rock in the middle of nowhere in a universe that is expanding, and then see the folly in their ways.
Just be quiet and feel it around you.
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