"...don't it make you sad to know that life, is more than who we are?..."
-goo goo dolls
the universe...something i've been thinking of a lot lately. considering it is mentally impossible for the human mind to comprehend the size of the universe, it's probably the single most pointless thing for someone to try to grasp or understand. i read an analogy on a website saying that if the sun was a piece of sand in a sandbox 20ft wide, than that sandbox would be our galaxy. the next closest galaxy to ours would be 1/3 of a mile away, and then the rest of the universe would be the entire earth. the earth filled with sandbox's so that if you put a huge pole through the earth, it would dissect millions of sandbox's/galaxies. And since the sun is a piece of sand, what would that make the earth? Well, the actual earth is a spec of dust right next to that piece of sand. perhaps the biggest mind-f&ck of a fact is that i'm just talking about the observable universe, the one we are only capable of seeing because the universe is expanding faster than light. therefore, the observable universe may only be a spec of sand in a sandbox compared to the rest of the theoretical universe.
seriously, if you don't believe there is life out there besides our own, you need help. even if a perfect scenario needs to take place for life to begin on a planet and that perfect scenario happens one out of a billion times, there are still billions upon billions of planets out there. so how could there not be life out there? we as humans cannot even fathom how insignificant we and the planet we occupy are. it is an incredibly humbling thought, and my one of my biggest fears is leaving this world before we develop the science to expand our knowledge beyond our solar system.
another interesting analogy on the same site made the earth a ball in a ball-point pen. therefore, the sun would be a ping-pong ball about 15 feet away from the tip of the pen. the next closest star that would be another ping pong ball 1429.15 miles away, about the distance from toronto to tampa, fl...it kind've makes my head hurt trying to wrap my head around these things, i think, actually i know my mind is too small.
religion...what led me to thinking about the universe is a good ole' debate on religion. i can safely say i no longer see myself as catholic nor even christian for that matter. yes, i still believe jesus existed and he was a very holy/spiritual/good man and that he brought God to millions upon millions of people. whether he was actually the son of God any moreso than you or me i have my doubts about. however, what i definitely don't subscribe to is the bible being the "word of God." i firmly believe that if God exists, it would not be written in his name that...
"If a man lies with a male, as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." - Leviticus 20:13
even if you believe that homosexuality is a sin, do you really believe in killing them? i would hope not, and i don't believe God would either. so if the book that i have been told my entire life is the word of God and which i should lead my life by is telling me such disgusting things, should i continue believing in the parts of the bible that fit my moral code? cherry picking the parts i believe in or not?
i have absolutely nothing against personal religion and personal belief in God or jesus or whoever. my problem is when people use religion as a barometer of their morals. being a good person out of fear of a higher power does not make you a good person. i believe people should identify their own morals and live accordingly. i consider myself a good person and i try to live my life that way because i feel living such a way makes my life better. ultimately, be good because you want to and feel it is right, not because some book tells you to do so (nevermind the fact that it tells you to kill people who do not live by the morals it defines). it is a sad fact that more people have been killed in the name of God than anything else.
my biggest problem with religion is the extremes it can lead and sometimes adhere to. most followers of islam do not believe they will receive 72 virgins upon killing themselves in the name of allah, but there is no denying the koran speaks of a multitude of sensual pleasures for men in heaven (which include virgins) that await martyrs. there is also no denying that islam promotes males as the dominate sex with women looked upon as more possession than equal companion. can any rational human being not agree with the thought that the world would be a better place if women in the middle east were considered equals? i don't think so.
by now you've probably picked up on my varying use of the term God. i find myself adhering to a more pantheistic view rather than theistic (christian, judiasm) view of God. a pantheist, in case you do not know, is someone who believes God and the universe are the same. everything that exists from the smallest quark to biggest star is connected, everything that is, was, and shall be is part of an immanent God. i believe in miracles in that we are not capable of understanding the science behind it. the knowledge is there for us to understand each and every miracle. whether or not we become aware of such knowledge before the sun explodes or the entropy becomes close to infinite, i do not know.
there is a great story, regardless of your beliefs, by isaac aslimov called "The Last Question," you can read it here...
http://adin.dyndns.org/adin/TheLastQ.htm
-goo goo dolls
the universe...something i've been thinking of a lot lately. considering it is mentally impossible for the human mind to comprehend the size of the universe, it's probably the single most pointless thing for someone to try to grasp or understand. i read an analogy on a website saying that if the sun was a piece of sand in a sandbox 20ft wide, than that sandbox would be our galaxy. the next closest galaxy to ours would be 1/3 of a mile away, and then the rest of the universe would be the entire earth. the earth filled with sandbox's so that if you put a huge pole through the earth, it would dissect millions of sandbox's/galaxies. And since the sun is a piece of sand, what would that make the earth? Well, the actual earth is a spec of dust right next to that piece of sand. perhaps the biggest mind-f&ck of a fact is that i'm just talking about the observable universe, the one we are only capable of seeing because the universe is expanding faster than light. therefore, the observable universe may only be a spec of sand in a sandbox compared to the rest of the theoretical universe.
seriously, if you don't believe there is life out there besides our own, you need help. even if a perfect scenario needs to take place for life to begin on a planet and that perfect scenario happens one out of a billion times, there are still billions upon billions of planets out there. so how could there not be life out there? we as humans cannot even fathom how insignificant we and the planet we occupy are. it is an incredibly humbling thought, and my one of my biggest fears is leaving this world before we develop the science to expand our knowledge beyond our solar system.
another interesting analogy on the same site made the earth a ball in a ball-point pen. therefore, the sun would be a ping-pong ball about 15 feet away from the tip of the pen. the next closest star that would be another ping pong ball 1429.15 miles away, about the distance from toronto to tampa, fl...it kind've makes my head hurt trying to wrap my head around these things, i think, actually i know my mind is too small.
religion...what led me to thinking about the universe is a good ole' debate on religion. i can safely say i no longer see myself as catholic nor even christian for that matter. yes, i still believe jesus existed and he was a very holy/spiritual/good man and that he brought God to millions upon millions of people. whether he was actually the son of God any moreso than you or me i have my doubts about. however, what i definitely don't subscribe to is the bible being the "word of God." i firmly believe that if God exists, it would not be written in his name that...
"If a man lies with a male, as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." - Leviticus 20:13
even if you believe that homosexuality is a sin, do you really believe in killing them? i would hope not, and i don't believe God would either. so if the book that i have been told my entire life is the word of God and which i should lead my life by is telling me such disgusting things, should i continue believing in the parts of the bible that fit my moral code? cherry picking the parts i believe in or not?
i have absolutely nothing against personal religion and personal belief in God or jesus or whoever. my problem is when people use religion as a barometer of their morals. being a good person out of fear of a higher power does not make you a good person. i believe people should identify their own morals and live accordingly. i consider myself a good person and i try to live my life that way because i feel living such a way makes my life better. ultimately, be good because you want to and feel it is right, not because some book tells you to do so (nevermind the fact that it tells you to kill people who do not live by the morals it defines). it is a sad fact that more people have been killed in the name of God than anything else.
my biggest problem with religion is the extremes it can lead and sometimes adhere to. most followers of islam do not believe they will receive 72 virgins upon killing themselves in the name of allah, but there is no denying the koran speaks of a multitude of sensual pleasures for men in heaven (which include virgins) that await martyrs. there is also no denying that islam promotes males as the dominate sex with women looked upon as more possession than equal companion. can any rational human being not agree with the thought that the world would be a better place if women in the middle east were considered equals? i don't think so.
by now you've probably picked up on my varying use of the term God. i find myself adhering to a more pantheistic view rather than theistic (christian, judiasm) view of God. a pantheist, in case you do not know, is someone who believes God and the universe are the same. everything that exists from the smallest quark to biggest star is connected, everything that is, was, and shall be is part of an immanent God. i believe in miracles in that we are not capable of understanding the science behind it. the knowledge is there for us to understand each and every miracle. whether or not we become aware of such knowledge before the sun explodes or the entropy becomes close to infinite, i do not know.
there is a great story, regardless of your beliefs, by isaac aslimov called "The Last Question," you can read it here...
http://adin.dyndns.org/adin/TheLastQ.htm
posted by Greg-Paul at
3:50 PM
<< Home