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It's sad especially living in the city, because of all of the light pollution; you really can't see all of the stars.
Like everything, once you pause and look up at the sky or look at the way things "really are" stripped of all preconceived notions and projections, and experience 'realness'; it's a beautiful thing.
Most definitely. I remember watching a meteor shower on a cold, clear night in the middle of nowhere with my wife (then my girlfriend), and then trying to replicate the experience a few years later on the roof when we lived in Mexico City. There's no comparison. Countryside wins, hands down.
Everyone should get out of town and spend a night under the stars at least once a year if you can. A few hours with nothing but the sky above you and the sounds of nature around you (or if it's winter, maybe no sounds at all!) will do wonders to clear your head. Sharing it with someone special is good too, but it definitely has to be the right someone.
I've been an amateur astronomer for over 50 years, and it's high time I get out of the light pollution and see the night sky again as it should be seen. The Milky Way is absolutely amazing under a really dark sky. Binoculars and/or a telescope make it even more wondrous.
When I look to the sky, I wonder what other beings are doing the exact same thing on another planet. I think the chances of other life existing in the universe is highly probable. If not, it is an awfully great waste of space... pun intended.
Nothing sad about it. I did all my wonder and awe and religious stuff. I moved passed it to a whole new level of understanding.
I agree. I am not quite sure why only a belief in a Deity would make the experience of gazing up into the Night Sky any more profound or moving.
I always love being in really remote places with no light pollution ( which for most of us in Westernised Urban centres is extremely rare).
I think "communion" with Nature and its vast wonders is just as deep and fabulous as having some kind of mystic encounter.
Our Universe is awe-inspiring in so many ways and its beauty is undeniable but requires no supernatural explanation for this to be somehow more satisfying.
The vastness of it, the fact that we still know so little about it ( and I hope we shall always keep a just a little mystery about it because knowing "everything" would pretty dull IMO - Humans always need a sense of quest and expectation - whether one is religious or a scientist in my opinion) only makes it more intense .
Some skies are so beautiful , you cannot but be astonished at the sheer magnificence of it. I remember a sky in Corsica about 10 years ago. The darkest midnight blue you could imagine, bejewelled by thousands of Stars ,all shining at different intensity . Hubby and I stood there in the middle of nowhere, on a dirt track and just gazed in wonder at this astonishingly stunning natural spectacle. It really was as though time had stopped for a while , so caught up were we in that beauty. We did not find this experience any the less satisfying because both of us are Atheists...
Nature to me has a way to remind you exactly how tiny you are on a Universe scale, it is humbling and to me a perfect example of our irrelevence in the big picture, and I love that. Nature to me always brings your sense of self importance down and keeps you grounded IMO. We might think we are in charge but Nature will always be the more powerful force. And there is nothing we can do about it.... We try and we fail to control it. That dam will always burst.
Why would a belief in a supernatural being make it any more potent a message ? I simply do not get that. If Nature only impresses because of a creator then I think THAT is very sad indeed.
We should be proud as a specie of our inquisitive and challenging minds, of our capacity to understand complex issues like Astronomy or particle physics, of always seeking to comprehend more. But also for our ability to simply pause and wonder at beauty and appreciate the gigantic system which we are all a part of. The two are not incompatible as some believers seem to think.
Science and knowledge are beautiful too.
Anyone who needs to believe in a God to appreciate seeing a Humpback whale flipping out of the water, or the beauty of frosty morning mist in the mountains has some serious issues IMO. Nature to me is enough. Yes I want to understand its workings but no mystical creature is going to make it better.
Why does everything always have to come back to God ? I just don't understand that. Science offers far more answers and also poses far more questions which to me is a heck of a lot more exciting. And Science does not seek to bring back everything to us. It goes beyond the human experience which is a little less arrogant also. Religion puts us (and God) at the centre of the Universe , science shows us we are not. A far healthier way to analyse our place within that system.
Way beyond discovery at this present time although scientists are working on it.
It's the universe for goodness sake, part of the natural order of our place in the Cosmos. There is nothing magical about it.
Perhaps. But when science DOES get to the point of explaining it all, it will be a sad day for humanity.
I prefer to just be able to stand outside on a clear night and look up at that incredible view, watch the stars, maybe see a meteor or two. I don't need to know the why. I would much rather enjoy the "is".
I agree. I am not quite sure why only a belief in a Deity would make the experience of gazing up into the Night Sky any more profound or moving.
I always love being in really remote places with no light pollution ( which for most of us in Westernised Urban centres is extremely rare).
I think "communion" with Nature and its vast wonders is just as deep and fabulous as having some kind of mystic encounter.
Our Universe is awe-inspiring in so many ways and its beauty is undeniable but requires no supernatural explanation for this to be somehow more satisfying.
The vastness of it, the fact that we still know so little about it ( and I hope we shall always keep a just a little mystery about it because knowing "everything" would pretty dull IMO - Humans always need a sense of quest and expectation - whether one is religious or a scientist in my opinion) only makes it more intense .
Some skies are so beautiful , you cannot but be astonished at the sheer magnificence of it. I remember a sky in Corsica about 10 years ago. The darkest midnight blue you could imagine, bejewelled by thousands of Stars ,all shining at different intensity . Hubby and I stood there in the middle of nowhere, on a dirt track and just gazed in wonder at this astonishingly stunning natural spectacle. It really was as though time had stopped for a while , so caught up were we in that beauty. We did not find this experience any the less satisfying because both of us are Atheists...
Nature to me has a way to remind you exactly how tiny you are on a Universe scale, it is humbling and to me a perfect example of our irrelevence in the big picture, and I love that. Nature to me always brings your sense of self importance down and keeps you grounded IMO. We might think we are in charge but Nature will always be the more powerful force. And there is nothing we can do about it.... We try and we fail to control it. That dam will always burst.
Why would a belief in a supernatural being make it any more potent a message ? I simply do not get that. If Nature only impresses because of a creator then I think THAT is very sad indeed.
We should be proud as a specie of our inquisitive and challenging minds, of our capacity to understand complex issues like Astronomy or particle physics, of always seeking to comprehend more. But also for our ability to simply pause and wonder at beauty and appreciate the gigantic system which we are all a part of. The two are not incompatible as some believers seem to think.
Science and knowledge are beautiful too.
Anyone who needs to believe in a God to appreciate seeing a Humpback whale flipping out of the water, or the beauty of frosty morning mist in the mountains has some serious issues IMO. Nature to me is enough. Yes I want to understand its workings but no mystical creature is going to make it better.
Why does everything always have to come back to God ? I just don't understand that. Science offers far more answers and also poses far more questions which to me is a heck of a lot more exciting. And Science does not seek to bring back everything to us. It goes beyond the human experience which is a little less arrogant also. Religion puts us (and God) at the centre of the Universe , science shows us we are not. A far healthier way to analyse our place within that system.
I agree. I am not quite sure why only a belief in a Deity would make the experience of gazing up into the Night Sky any more profound or moving.
I always love being in really remote places with no light pollution ( which for most of us in Westernised Urban centres is extremely rare).
I think "communion" with Nature and its vast wonders is just as deep and fabulous as having some kind of mystic encounter.
Our Universe is awe-inspiring in so many ways and its beauty is undeniable but requires no supernatural explanation for this to be somehow more satisfying.
The vastness of it, the fact that we still know so little about it ( and I hope we shall always keep a just a little mystery about it because knowing "everything" would pretty dull IMO - Humans always need a sense of quest and expectation - whether one is religious or a scientist in my opinion) only makes it more intense .
Some skies are so beautiful , you cannot but be astonished at the sheer magnificence of it. I remember a sky in Corsica about 10 years ago. The darkest midnight blue you could imagine, bejewelled by thousands of Stars ,all shining at different intensity . Hubby and I stood there in the middle of nowhere, on a dirt track and just gazed in wonder at this astonishingly stunning natural spectacle. It really was as though time had stopped for a while , so caught up were we in that beauty. We did not find this experience any the less satisfying because both of us are Atheists...
Nature to me has a way to remind you exactly how tiny you are on a Universe scale, it is humbling and to me a perfect example of our irrelevence in the big picture, and I love that. Nature to me always brings your sense of self importance down and keeps you grounded IMO. We might think we are in charge but Nature will always be the more powerful force. And there is nothing we can do about it.... We try and we fail to control it. That dam will always burst.
Why would a belief in a supernatural being make it any more potent a message ? I simply do not get that. If Nature only impresses because of a creator then I think THAT is very sad indeed.
We should be proud as a specie of our inquisitive and challenging minds, of our capacity to understand complex issues like Astronomy or particle physics, of always seeking to comprehend more. But also for our ability to simply pause and wonder at beauty and appreciate the gigantic system which we are all a part of. The two are not incompatible as some believers seem to think.
Science and knowledge are beautiful too.
Anyone who needs to believe in a God to appreciate seeing a Humpback whale flipping out of the water, or the beauty of frosty morning mist in the mountains has some serious issues IMO. Nature to me is enough. Yes I want to understand its workings but no mystical creature is going to make it better.
Why does everything always have to come back to God ? I just don't understand that. Science offers far more answers and also poses far more questions which to me is a heck of a lot more exciting. And Science does not seek to bring back everything to us. It goes beyond the human experience which is a little less arrogant also. Religion puts us (and God) at the centre of the Universe , science shows us we are not. A far healthier way to analyse our place within that system.
Much of what you're saying here presumes attitudes about others' appreciation of the common experience, as though non-belief cultivates a different experience. There is a rather unsubtle suggestion that a believer's reaction is generally less mature, less developed, less intellectually engaged. What we all have in common, I think--all of us--is very crude understanding of the universe when we look up into the night sky.
pamelaBeurman: Knowing the 'why' of it takes nothing away from the experience, but makes it all the more astonishing. Science will likely never explain the wonder we feel at its magnificence. And even if it does, so what? It won't change my reactions. The sheer vastness and beauty of it will always be there.
This is one reason I so enjoy backpacking into remote wilderness areas. To sit in primal lands, unchanged by man, in the elements, far removed from civilization, while gazing up at the night sky is a tremendously moving experience. Almost overwhelming. It 'resets' my priorities and sets my perspective back into proper alignment. Suddenly work, bosses, bills and politics do not matter. The civilized life is a chaotic life. But gazing upon the vast, limitless expanse at night, while in the wilderness, I feel at peace and perceive an 'order' to it all.
In my daily routine, I live in a bubble. My focus is narrow and my time is not my own. My bubble consists of my little world of the commute, work, and other pointless crap. But in the wilderness, while looking upon the infinite stars, the bubble is popped and I become aware of being. My tent is an ultralight mesh, allowing for an unobstructed view of the stars above. It is so awesome to awake in the night, see the Milky Way and all the rest, and to realize where I am. In the wild forest in the rugged mountains, on this 'pale blue dot' in the vast expanse of the universe.
Perhaps. But when science DOES get to the point of explaining it all, it will be a sad day for humanity.
I prefer to just be able to stand outside on a clear night and look up at that incredible view, watch the stars, maybe see a meteor or two. I don't need to know the why. I would much rather enjoy the "is".
I prefer to know things because I have an inquisitive mind. I am not happy with the stock "because I said so". I didn't like it from my parents and I sure as hell won't accept it as an adult. That is why I continually read and investigate and ask questions. I need to know the hows and whys. That is how humans have evolved to this point, that is why the world has technology and scientific discoveries, because people didn't sit on their butts and be intellectually lazy.
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