PALE BLUE DOT
2 IDEAS FROM ME
On February 14, 1990 a picture of Earth was taken from the Voyager 1 spacecraft at the request of astronomer Carl Sagan who was creating a “family portrait” of the planets. Voyager 1 was 6 billion kilometers from Earth and leaving the Solar System. Earth appears in the photo as a “Pale Blue Dot” the size of a spec of dust in a beam of light surrounded by billions of galaxies and stars. The perspective is humbling, inspiring, and perspective generating.
The Milky Way Galaxy is like a giant frisbee hurtling through space at 2.1 Million kph. Our solar system is orbiting around the center of this galaxy at 828,000 kph. Earth is orbiting the sun at 107,000 kph. By comparison, a typical 300 Winchester Magnum bullet fires at 3,000 kph. Hence, we are flying through the cosmos at speeds 700, 276, and 35 times faster than a speeding bullet depending on our reference point. Within this flux flows a river of life. Consciousness permeates all life forms. However, the source of consciousness is unknown and indescribable in words. Some call it God, the Tao, Nature, Consciousness, or an energy field. Regardless of the source, our consciousness evolves from innocent ignorance at birth throughout life. This insight is essential because it creates the possibility for transcendence from the terrors of ignorance. Whatever hell or challenge you are going through is temporary.
2 QUOTES FROM SAGES
“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”—Carl Sagan (Pale Blue Dot)
“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)
1 QUESTION FOR YOU TO EXPLORE
What is the potential benefit of a daily practice that captures the perspective of the Pale Blue Dot we call home?
Namaste,
Duane Nelson
