Share the Warmth
05-17-2007, 10:00 PM
All that enthralls me about the universe, about nature, stems from an innate ability to appreciate the aesthetic. The beauty of nature, the inconquerable logic of mathematics. The ring of truthfulness that blesses scientific endeavor.
In the last few years however, I have become cynical about this appreciation, I've begun to question it. I have looked upon the wild animals, that I once considered purer and more beautiful than humans, and regard them now with mere fascination and sometimes even pity. I look at the sunset and wonder why I should appreciate it merely for the fact that my mind wants to appreciate it.
The universe is a depressingly perfect concept, containing eternal cycles of destruction and rebirth. Inescapable cycles and patterns. Some of us are drawn to that perfection, that aesthetic that they can never achieve in their own lives.
Me? I don't give a damn. My fascination with the universe dies with humanity. Call me close minded but I just don't give a damn about black holes, white dwarfs and far away empty galaxies unless they contain similar intelligence life forms capable of sharing and experiencing love.
I sincerely think a lot of people are kidding themselves when they say "who cares about humanity, they won't impact the universe as a whole much anyway". To them I say this: who cares about the universe, except what it can do to perpetuate and nurture humanity and the precious concept of love that we have created and carried with us. What good is a universe tous if we aren't there to interact with it?
All of your interests are stuck with humanity. Accept this fact. You can pick apart love all you want, you can trace it's evolutionary roots in an attempt to gain understanding and control over it, but the fact is when it dies a light goes off on the universe forever.
Because, a while ago, someone was onto something when he conceived the idea of the earth being the center of the universe. That was common logic that was (thankfully) turned obsolete by a more productive and truthful look at the state of our solar system. However there is a notion there that can't be shaken, a grain of truth.
As long as we're trapped here, Earth is the center of our universe (and for most of us, the extent of our universe). Even the coldest, more irrefutable wisdom of hard science is only a human perception of the world around us and without a planet full of humans that can relate to that perspective, it is meaningless.
Some use their human intelligence to perceive a mysterious universe around them and then jump to their knees in worship of the things they see in the stars, without considering that maybe it is that imagination, and compassion and the other strengths and frailties of humanity, which deserve our respect and perhaps even faith and worship. In fact, perhaps that is what they are really worshipping to begin with, without being aware of it.
I think that those who worship their own understanding of the universe around while disregarding the importance of humanity (which permits that understanding) are not much closer to the truth than hardcore Christians. Both are throwing their faith into something that is merely a product of the real treasure: the human perspective. Imagination, free will, and love.
In the last few years however, I have become cynical about this appreciation, I've begun to question it. I have looked upon the wild animals, that I once considered purer and more beautiful than humans, and regard them now with mere fascination and sometimes even pity. I look at the sunset and wonder why I should appreciate it merely for the fact that my mind wants to appreciate it.
The universe is a depressingly perfect concept, containing eternal cycles of destruction and rebirth. Inescapable cycles and patterns. Some of us are drawn to that perfection, that aesthetic that they can never achieve in their own lives.
Me? I don't give a damn. My fascination with the universe dies with humanity. Call me close minded but I just don't give a damn about black holes, white dwarfs and far away empty galaxies unless they contain similar intelligence life forms capable of sharing and experiencing love.
I sincerely think a lot of people are kidding themselves when they say "who cares about humanity, they won't impact the universe as a whole much anyway". To them I say this: who cares about the universe, except what it can do to perpetuate and nurture humanity and the precious concept of love that we have created and carried with us. What good is a universe tous if we aren't there to interact with it?
All of your interests are stuck with humanity. Accept this fact. You can pick apart love all you want, you can trace it's evolutionary roots in an attempt to gain understanding and control over it, but the fact is when it dies a light goes off on the universe forever.
Because, a while ago, someone was onto something when he conceived the idea of the earth being the center of the universe. That was common logic that was (thankfully) turned obsolete by a more productive and truthful look at the state of our solar system. However there is a notion there that can't be shaken, a grain of truth.
As long as we're trapped here, Earth is the center of our universe (and for most of us, the extent of our universe). Even the coldest, more irrefutable wisdom of hard science is only a human perception of the world around us and without a planet full of humans that can relate to that perspective, it is meaningless.
Some use their human intelligence to perceive a mysterious universe around them and then jump to their knees in worship of the things they see in the stars, without considering that maybe it is that imagination, and compassion and the other strengths and frailties of humanity, which deserve our respect and perhaps even faith and worship. In fact, perhaps that is what they are really worshipping to begin with, without being aware of it.
I think that those who worship their own understanding of the universe around while disregarding the importance of humanity (which permits that understanding) are not much closer to the truth than hardcore Christians. Both are throwing their faith into something that is merely a product of the real treasure: the human perspective. Imagination, free will, and love.