Carl Sagan
~ November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996 ~~oOo~
I never really cared much for science when I was younger. It would be wrong of me to blame a religion for that since it was never something that interested me in the first place. I don’t even remember much at all what my science teachers said. But maybe if I had a good teacher things might have been different. Who knows? I often wonder what it would be like to have Carl Sagan as my science teacher. Maybe I would have showed up more often. Maybe I'd have had posters of him on my wall instead of Pac and Mos Def. He was before my time though. Yet, in a strange way, he
was my first science teacher. But that isn’t really the point. He was much more than that too.
I’ll always remember catching
Cosmos: The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean, on TV…
The surface of the Earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean. On this shore, we've learned most of what we know. Recently, we've waded a little way out, maybe ankle-deep, and the water seems inviting. Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return, and we can, because the cosmos is also within us. We're made of star stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself…
The journey for each of us begins here. We are going to explore the cosmos in a ship of the imagination, unfettered by ordinary limits on speed and size, drawn by the music of cosmic harmonies. It can take us anywhere in space and time. Perfect as a snowflake, organic as a dandelion seed, it will carry us to worlds of dreams, and worlds of facts.
Come with me.Its hard to think of any voice or words that have affected me as much as those. I’d have to compare it to my mothers forgiveness, my fathers first hello after many years, or the one I love telling me those three special words. Landmark moments in my life, spiritual awakenings, as symbolic to me as shedding my skin, words written into the core of my being, sealed on my heart of hearts, enriching my life, making me a better person, or at least inspiring me to try to be.
Maybe I heard it at the right time, maybe it appealed to the artist or the tragic romantic in me, maybe it was the rolling shot of the beach, the crashing waves and the background music, maybe it was just the drugs still in my system, who knows, it isn’t important. What’s important is religion was dead to me at that point, Islam a toxic spiritual wasteland that I was lost in, looking for some sign, some guidance, some help to deal with where my life was headed, just something, anything. And that guiding hand came from elsewhere - just an ordinary looking man, with the most extraordinary voice…
"Come with me". If ever I had a religious experience, this was most likely it. I cried then. I am crying now watching it again. Happy crying.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lqsG9_ughUI thank Carl Sagan for not only encouraging me to start educating myself, but also waking me up from whatever shitty slumber I was in, and also for dispelling the sad reputation that science has earned as some kind of sterile and mechanical concept, rigid and void of emotion. The way he describes science is beautiful, open-ended and poetic - a strange alchemy of philosophy, spirituality and tangible discovery. The pursuit of it is as spiritual a goal as any, even a passing interest in it can enrich your life if you let it.
Carl Sagan, and other beautiful souls like him, give the universe a human hand-hold, and a pertinent message to humanity, simple enough to awaken a child-like awe in me, and at the same time deep enough to leave a lasting impression on me for life. He speaks of endless possibilities and uncountable mysteries with so much passion and energy that only a dead heart would not be moved, or a small mind already filled. And that warm smile. You cannot fake a smile like that. His words speak to me and teach me about the world around me in profound ways.
Billions upon billions of ways. What we know is just a drop in the ocean and yet its enough to fill me up with knowledge. I am overflowing with knowledge. I have so much knowledge that I could never appreciate it enough in my lifetime, and never understand even a fraction of it. Do we really need to understand? Do we need an end goal like that? It is enough for me to just bask in the unknown and enjoy the journey. I am not afraid of not knowing. I relish it.
Carl Sagan showed me that life doesn't have to be lonely or empty without gods. My life certainly isn't. My life was much more lonely and isolated and hopeless
with god. My paradise is living and breathing in this world right now. My angels and heroes, flesh and blood, here and now, with feelings like mine. Why can’t the living, material, tangible world be magnificent enough for us? It seems silly to desire an afterlife with all this going on. The universe is much more beautiful and infinitely more interesting than any vain imaginings of heaven. I see a natural, mortal, possibly finite universe and I am filled with strength, inspiration, hope, love, and an unquenchable desire to make the most of every second here on this earth, and surround myself with people who want to do the same, and keep hold tightly of fond memories of those who are with us no more.
So this is to you, Mr Sagan. A good man, a beautiful soul, a true inspiration to me: Happy Birthday.
To live in the hearts we leave behind
Is to live foreverRIP Carl Sagan
Topic: Carl Sagan, Happy Birthday