A Brief Flicker of Life

In the Vastness of the Cosmic Scene

 Please view a stunning film of the extraordinary spectacle of the expanding universe. This is a gift that the  astronomers have bequeathed to humankind*. It is made possible by their telescopic lenses, which  enable human beings  to  peer deeper into the recesses of nature, and thus expand  our understanding   of its vastness. This is now brought to us  on our computer screens. No need to visit a planetarium to appreciate the immensity of nature.

(Click here for this amazing presentation)

  Perhaps the astronomers photographs of the universe will  awaken within each person  a  sense of awe and astonishment,  a kind of "natural  piety"-- not of the  Gods contrived by our ancestors in the infancy of the race-- but of the breathtaking scenes of  expanding universes as discovered in the natural sciences,,,

  Perhaps it will  inspire an appreciation of our own relative insignificance in  comparison with the majesty of the cosmic scene...

  Perhaps it will also awaken a profound  awareness of how precious our lives are in the brief periods of consciousness in which  we  breathe, participate in the world of nature, and seek to understand it....

 And  perhaps in striving  mightily  to drink deeply at the well of life  we can untap still more creative

potentialities for  fulfillment and satisfaction-- of which contemplating the wondrous  beauty of  the cosmic scene  is now  an intrinsic part..

 Paul Kurtz

 *with thanks to  astronomer Stu Jordan and his colleagues...

and to Stan F for bringing it to our attention.