Carl Sagan on human nature
The other day I decided that I need to start reading (books) again. To that end, I pulled Pale Blue Dot off my bookshelf and put in next to my recliner. I haven't read too far yet; so far much of the discussion has concerned the social history of scientific curiosity and, more recently, space exploration. Today I came across the following passage:
Mr. Sagan wrote that passage in the context of humanity's historic desire to find a divine hand intervening in our lives. The Parent he refers to is God, Allah, or any other being(s) that humans hold to be "above" themselves."The significance of our lives and our fragile planet is 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."
I don't think I'm alone when I say that there have been times when I have searched/wished/begged for the existence of a higher power. I'm guilty, I admit it. Good people get hurt, bad people get away, incompetent people get power; we look skyward and ask "Why?"
That "Why" may be futile, or it may not be, but it can certainly be comforting. More comforting, though, is to look at your own actions, ask yourself "Why?" and know the answer. That is where knowledge transcends belief.
6 comments:
i can only say its a matter of faith... am a Catholic and i can aslo say that there are times were i wished that the things occuring to me are just a dream... a nightmare that would go away when i wake up.....
faith and belief are the only things people in this world are able to hold on... with out it.... they just....
lose it....
lose their humanity.....
espacially....
insanity
There is just this for consolation:
An hour here or there when our lives seem, against all odds and expectations, to burst open and give us everything we've ever imagined, though everyone but children (and perhaps even they) know these hours will inevitably be followed by others, far darker and more difficult. Still, we cherish they city, the morning; we hope, more than anything, for more.
Michael Cunningham - The Hours
This passage means more to me, and gives me more hope than any religion I have ever learned.
I agree with dang near every word in both of your replies, Drew. The only way I feel differently is that I choose to explain our apparent "specialness" via the anthropic principle.
But if _we_ weren't around to define the anthropic principle, then it wouldn't exist, and therefore couldn't exert a "force" to drive the creation of life. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy in the sense that it acts like a Creator. :)
How does the existence of a Creator assure the existence of life? The Creator, if he so desired, could easily have created a universe where gravity was a little weaker, stars and planets never formed, and there never would be a place for life to develop.
Yeah, I see what you're saying. The definition of Creator I'm using is more like "a conscious entity that influenced/determined the way our universe was formed."
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