Posts tagged "beauty"
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"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.
Sooner or later, such a religion will emerge."
- Carl Sagan
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Neil deGrasse Tyson shares a cool thought

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"For as long as there been humans we have searched for our place in the cosmos. Where are we? Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a hum-drum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people. This perspective is a courageous continuation of our penchant for constructing and testing mental models of the skies; the Sun as a red-hot stone, the stars as a celestial flame, the Galaxy as the backbone of night."
- Carl Sagan
"It’s hard to stay mad, when there’s so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once, and it’s too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst… And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life… You have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure. But don’t worry… you will someday."
- Kevin Spacey
3986
Reblogged from The Ⓐ Word
“When my husband died, because he was so famous & known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me — it still sometimes happens — & ask me if Carl changed at the end & converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again. Carl faced his death with unflagging courage & never sought refuge in illusions. The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other again. I don’t ever expect to be reunited with Carl. But, the great thing is that when we were together, for nearly twenty years, we lived with a vivid appreciation of how brief & precious life is. We never trivialized the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting. Every single moment that we were alive & we were together was miraculous — not miraculous in the sense of inexplicable or supernatural. We knew we were beneficiaries of chance… That pure chance could be so generous & so kind… That we could find each other, as Carl wrote so beautifully in Cosmos, you know, in the vastness of space & the immensity of time… That we could be together for twenty years. That is something which sustains me & it’s much more meaningful…  The way he treated me & the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other & our family, while he lived. That is so much more important than the idea I will see him someday. I don’t think I’ll ever see Carl again. But I saw him. We saw each other. We found each other in the cosmos, and that was wonderful.“  - Ann Druyan, talking about her husband, Carl Sagan

“When my husband died, because he was so famous & known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me — it still sometimes happens — & ask me if Carl changed at the end & converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again. Carl faced his death with unflagging courage & never sought refuge in illusions. The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other again. I don’t ever expect to be reunited with Carl. But, the great thing is that when we were together, for nearly twenty years, we lived with a vivid appreciation of how brief & precious life is. We never trivialized the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting. Every single moment that we were alive & we were together was miraculous — not miraculous in the sense of inexplicable or supernatural. We knew we were beneficiaries of chance… That pure chance could be so generous & so kind… That we could find each other, as Carl wrote so beautifully in Cosmos, you know, in the vastness of space & the immensity of time… That we could be together for twenty years. That is something which sustains me & it’s much more meaningful… 

The way he treated me & the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other & our family, while he lived. That is so much more important than the idea I will see him someday. I don’t think I’ll ever see Carl again. But I saw him. We saw each other. We found each other in the cosmos, and that was wonderful.“ 

- Ann Druyan, talking about her husband, Carl Sagan

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"When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty."
- John Muir
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A Stunning Timelapse of the Beauty of our Universe

We are all stardust

We are all stardust

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"This vast number of worlds, the enormous scale of the universe, in my view, has been taken into account, even superficially, in virtually no religion, and especially no Western religions."
- Carl Sagan
135

armchairsoapbox:

ageofreason:

heartracing:

ageofreason:

I must reblog this again; it didn’t nearly get enough attention the first time I posted it. Please, watch this and stand in awe at the astounding beauty of the world we live in. 

“Yet it was from such destruction, that I was formed. The stars must die, so that I can live.”

That line sent shivers down my spine. 

most beautiful thing ever

also, it’s anti-religion but God-neutral

very important to make that second point

Exactly, that’s why I believe this video is so fantastic. It upholds science and damns religion, but doesn’t neglect to mention the point that there still is the possibility that a God did it all and that we really don’t know. All that we can be sure of in matters such as these is that religion is harmful and useless.

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"Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"
- Douglas Adams
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heartracing:

ageofreason:

I must reblog this again; it didn’t nearly get enough attention the first time I posted it. Please, watch this and stand in awe at the astounding beauty of the world we live in. 

“Yet it was from such destruction, that I was formed. The stars must die, so that I can live.”

That line sent shivers down my spine. 

135

laurenbroccolis:

“What are you compared to me?” - The Universe

“Dude, I am you.”- Us

this is amazing.

I must reblog this again; it didn’t nearly get enough attention the first time I posted it. Please, watch this and stand in awe at the astounding beauty of the world we live in. 

(Source: ageofreason)

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afeatherlessbiped:

<3 

Symphony of Science - Glorious Dawn

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cosmic-obsidian:

ageofreason:

Science Saved My Soul [Simply beautiful.]

Beautiful, and I like the fact that he mentions the possibility that a ‘deity’ of some sort may have created the universe but it really is irrelevant to us. Whether the universe just popped into existence or ‘something’ put it there…all that matters is that we are here and apart of it.   

Completely agreed. In fact, I believe everything said in this video. It pretty accurately describes my belief system when it comes to wonder in the universe and the existence of a deity.

Again, it’s an absolutely beautiful clip. If you haven’t seen it yet you should.