THE COSMIC PERSPECTIVE

[Michael Grove]

'Of all the sciences cultivated by mankind, Astronomy is acknowledged

to be, and undoubtedly is, the most sublime, the most interesting, and

the most useful. For, by knowledge derived from this science, not only

the bulk of the Earth is discovered . . . . . but our very faculties are

enlarged with the grandeur of the ideas it conveys, our minds exalted

above [their] low contracted prejudices.'

- James Ferguson, Astronomy Explained Upon Sir Isaac Newton’s Principles,
  And Made Easy To Those Who Have Not Studied Mathematics (1757)

LONG before anyone knew that the universe had a beginning, before

we knew that the nearest large galaxy lies two & a half million light-years

from Earth, before we knew how stars work or whether atoms exist,

James Ferguson's enthusiastic introduction to his favorite science rang

true. Yet his words, apart from their eighteenth-century flourish, could

have been written yesterday.

Now imagine a world in which everyone, but especially people with

power and influence, holds an expanded view of our place in the

cosmos. With that perspective, our problems would shrink - or never arise

at all - and we could celebrate our earthly differences while shunning the

behaviour of our predecessors who slaughtered each other because of

them.

THE COSMIC PERSPECTIVE - with quotations from ...

Carl Sagan, Michio Kaku, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jason Silva, Alan Watts 

The cosmic perspective flows from fundamental knowledge.

But it's more than just what you know. It's also about having the wisdom

and insight to apply that knowledge to assessing our place in the universe.

And its attributes are clear ...

• The cosmic perspective comes from the frontiers of science, yet it's not solely the province of the scientist. The cosmic perspective belongs to everyone.
• The cosmic perspective is humble.
• The cosmic perspective is spiritual - even redemptive but not religious.
• The cosmic perspective enables us to grasp, in the same thought, the large and the small.
• The cosmic perspective opens our minds to extraordinary ideas but does NOT leave them so open that our brains spill out, making us susceptible to believing anything we're told.
• The cosmic perspective opens our eyes to the universe, not as a benevolent cradle designed to nurture life but as a cold, lonely, hazardous place.
• The cosmic perspective shows Earth to be a mote, but a precious mote and, for the moment, the only home we have.
• The cosmic perspective finds beauty in the images of planets, moons, stars, and nebulae but also celebrates the laws of physics that shape them.
• The cosmic perspective enables us to see beyond our circumstances, allowing us to transcend the primal search for food, shelter, and sex.
• The cosmic perspective reminds us that in space, where there is no air, a flag will not wave—an indication that perhaps flag waving and space exploration do not mix.
• The cosmic perspective not only embraces our genetic kinship with all life on Earth but also values our chemical kinship with any yet-to-be discovered life in the universe, as well as our atomic kinship with the universe itself.

                                                                          Neil deGrasse Tyson

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[Michael Grove]

 THE BOOK         

On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are

Alan Watts, who died in 1974, held both a master's degree in theology and a doctorate of divinity, and was best known as an interpreter of Zen Buddhism in particular, and of Indian and Chinese philosophy in general. He was the author of many books on the philosophy and psychology of religion, which include The Way of Zen, The Supreme Identity, The Joyous Cosmology, Beyond Theology, Nature, Man and Woman*, Cloud-Hidden, Whereabouts Unknown* and In My Own Way: An Autobiography.