Ptolemy was wrong, and so was Copernicus......
whygohome
Posts: 2,305
This is neither a geocentric universe nor a heliocentric one, it is an egocentric universe. There is nothing more liberating than thinking about one's own insignificance. Most of us have 75 years on this pale blue dot, 75 years out of the hundreds of millions that some species of homo- have breathed the air of this planet. For you religious folk, let's just simply look at the last 2,000 years since the Bible was written: 75 out of 2,000 is quite a small fraction. 3.75 % to be exact. I like to think sometimes about the fact that 100 years from now it will be as if I never existed. I will be long dead; my nieces and nephews will be long dead (I'm not having kids), and their children, who will only know me by name if at all, likely, will be in their twilight years.
As an atheist/agnostic/pagan/heathen/heretic, whatever you would like to call me, after these 75 years of bliss, there is nothing. Actually, I can't even call it nothing, because that would be an attempt to define what comes next, when in my view what comes next is indefinable.
What bothers me is how people, whether 1 in 6.5 billion, or 1 in the tens of billions who have walked this earth, can feel that they are beyond the idea of humility. I have met a lot of people in my life who feel that they are God's (or Allah's or Yahweh's) gift to the human race. I laugh at these people who seem to be oblivious to the fact that their 7 decades are essentially a speck of dust. I call this the pedestal syndrome. We raise ourselves up on a pedestal and look down upon the world with our noses up and our mouth yapping. We know everything, even though we barely exert any energy to learn. We hold ourselves up because we make a lot of money (which is simply an abstract idea. We ascribe a deep meaning to money in order to feed our egos); we let our beliefs and opinions replace the power of facts, the power of knowledge. We embrace hubris when we should embrace humility. We fiendishly strive for the accumulation of wealth and material possessions, all the while becoming a cancer on the planet, essentially becoming playing a role in its destruction and our own demise.
We would all be much better off if we simply step down form our pedestal. Our egos are running wild, propelled by stubbornness, narrow-mindedness, and a false sense of self-idolotry. It is quite sad. A cure for this would be to spend some time amongst nature. Camp in the Tetons, hike in the Green Mountains, snowshoe in Yellowstone, surf in the Pacific, do something. get off the couch, turn off the television, log off of Facebook and immerse yourself in the world. This would sure you. All in all it's a lost cause, I think.
Raise your glasses. Here's to Insignificance!
As an atheist/agnostic/pagan/heathen/heretic, whatever you would like to call me, after these 75 years of bliss, there is nothing. Actually, I can't even call it nothing, because that would be an attempt to define what comes next, when in my view what comes next is indefinable.
What bothers me is how people, whether 1 in 6.5 billion, or 1 in the tens of billions who have walked this earth, can feel that they are beyond the idea of humility. I have met a lot of people in my life who feel that they are God's (or Allah's or Yahweh's) gift to the human race. I laugh at these people who seem to be oblivious to the fact that their 7 decades are essentially a speck of dust. I call this the pedestal syndrome. We raise ourselves up on a pedestal and look down upon the world with our noses up and our mouth yapping. We know everything, even though we barely exert any energy to learn. We hold ourselves up because we make a lot of money (which is simply an abstract idea. We ascribe a deep meaning to money in order to feed our egos); we let our beliefs and opinions replace the power of facts, the power of knowledge. We embrace hubris when we should embrace humility. We fiendishly strive for the accumulation of wealth and material possessions, all the while becoming a cancer on the planet, essentially becoming playing a role in its destruction and our own demise.
We would all be much better off if we simply step down form our pedestal. Our egos are running wild, propelled by stubbornness, narrow-mindedness, and a false sense of self-idolotry. It is quite sad. A cure for this would be to spend some time amongst nature. Camp in the Tetons, hike in the Green Mountains, snowshoe in Yellowstone, surf in the Pacific, do something. get off the couch, turn off the television, log off of Facebook and immerse yourself in the world. This would sure you. All in all it's a lost cause, I think.
Raise your glasses. Here's to Insignificance!
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http://boe.jeff.k12.wv.us/education/staff/staff.php?sectionid=948&
Borges scares me.
That is Korzybski. I like his work in linguistics, especially http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_prime
edit: and to emphasize the importance of eliminating the word "is" and all forms of "to be" from our language, apparently that wasn't Korzybski's idea.
You had me until this.
It is human arrogance to ever think that we could ever have a lasting effect on the planet. Short term? Maybe but eventually when the planet is done with us, she will find a way to right herself.
Good point. It will be our demise.
She'll "shake us as if we were a cold"
Great post, as well as Kraven's point.
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
Blame it all on chemical intercourse.
The swallowed seas of arrogance breathing in the thoughts of ten
thousand fools defy irreverence
The full moon is dead skin. The one down here's wearing thin.
So set up the ten pins as the human tide rolls in.
Like a ball that's spinning.
Bombs dropping down overhead. On the ground.
It's instilled to want to live.
Bombs dropping down. Please forget our hometown in our insignificance.
"Turn the jukebox up," he said. Dancing in irreverence.
Plays C3. Let the song protest.
The plates begin to shift. Perfect lefts come rolling in.
I was alone and far away.. ..ay. When I heard the band start playing.
On a lip, late take off.
Bombs dropping down overhead. Underground.
It's instilled to want to live.
Bombs dropping down. Please forgive our hometown in our insignificance.
Feel like resonance of distance. In the blood the iron lies.
It's instilled to want to live.
Bombs dropping down. Please forget our hometown in our insignificance.
Oh, in our insignificance, oh.
by chickweed » 02 Aug 2010 20:28
like a slap in the face
it hit me
as the human brain became more and more complex
chemical evolution developed the higher emotions
the mind, heart, and soul all emerged as curious and curiouser
soul-searching humans developed the very soul for which they sought solace
so love and hate, courage and fear, all characteristics that are natured or nurtured are inborn
their prominance or recessiveness all depend on which were born strongest
what i used to call god
i now call the universe
i don't even know what to call
the hyper space that houses hundreds of billions of other universes
our only hope is that the energy source behind our big bang (and countless others)
is aware of us and our fragile souls
otherwise
there is no other side
to meet you on
to take a look on
or to break on through to
"what a long, strange trip it's been"
we created god in our image
the pin point of alpha where it all began
hydrogen heats
making hydrogen hearts
all bringing billions of years of cosmic evolution
to the us and fucking now
all of the faces we have put on god
yahweh?
god the father?
allah?
wrong
wrong
wrong
it is much much broader and brighter than we ever evolved our imaginations to dream.
humankind is just a blip of time on the face of the earth
even less in our sun's age
and microscopic in terms of the age of just our universe
mind blowing
"what a long, strange trip it's been"