Atheists & Agnostics
Related: About this forumBrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)Ron Obvious
(6,261 posts)That man was a poet. His time was too short.
onager
(9,356 posts)His "Pale Blue Dot" poster was framed and hanging in one of our conference rooms.
For a while, anyway. Went in for a meeting one day and it was gone...replaced by A NO-GODDAMNED THOMAS KINKADE PAINTING! WTF? Boy, that pissed me off.
So for those who may have never seen it, here's the text. A simple search will find the original poster and the text. I never get tired of reading this:
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.
-- Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)would have been less of an insult than being replaced by a Kinkade.
Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)I also would like to believe that there is more than just this life. But I can't.
Gelliebeans
(5,043 posts)Version of an afterlife.
His movie "Defending your Life" where one can horseback ride, play tennis and golf because it's always 72 and sunny.
You wear a "tupa" and you can visit the past-life pavilion with Shirley McClain as your tour guide. Eating as much and as often as you want.....without the guilt. Ha!
The price for all this luxury?
Being assigned an attorney (Rip Torn) and defending your life to see if you are worthy to go on to heaven.
trotsky
(49,533 posts)Have heard many good things about it!
Gelliebeans
(5,043 posts)One of my all time favorites along with Princess Bride (in that genre)
If you get a chance, I highly recommend it.
defacto7
(13,485 posts)I miss him very much. The world need Carl.
RussBLib
(9,008 posts)In fact, I have commissioned an artist friend of mine to produce a 2' x 3' drawing of Carl. We had some extra bucks and I decided to produce a 1-of-a-kind artpiece of Carl Sagan. I expect delivery by the end of September.