- Inspirational stuff.
Carl Sagan once said “Once we overcome our fear
of being tiny, we find ourselves on the threshold of a vast and awesome
universe that utterly dwarfs — in time, in space and in potential — the tidy,
anthropocentric proscenium of our ancestors.”
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The significance of our lives and our fragile
planet is then determined by our own wisdom and courage. We are the custodians
of life’s meaning.”
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How much more satisfying had we been placed in a
garden custom-made for us, its other occupants put there for us to use as we
saw fit. There is a celebrated story in the Western tradition like this, except
that not quite everything was there for us. There was one particular tree of
which we were not to partake, a tree of knowledge. Knowledge and understanding
and wisdom were forbidden to us in this story. We were to be kept ignorant. But
we couldn’t help ourselves. We were starving for knowledge—created hungry, you
might say. This was the origin of all our troubles. In particular, it is why we
no longer live in a garden: We found out too much. So long as we were incurious
and obedient, I imagine, we could console ourselves with our importance and
centrality, and tell ourselves that we were the reason the Universe was made.
As we began to indulge our curiosity, though, to explore, to learn how the Universe
really is, we expelled ourselves from Eden. Angels with a flaming sword were
set as sentries at the gates of Paradise to bar our return. The gardeners
became exiles and wanderers. Occasionally we mourn that lost world, but that,
it seems to me, is maudlin and sentimental. We could not happily have remained
ignorant forever.
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We long for our parents to care for us. To
forgive us our errors, to save us from our childish mistakes. But knowledge is
preferable to ignorance. “
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Better by far to embrace a hard truth than a
reassuring faith. If we crave a cosmic purpose let us find a worthy goal.
