My poor wee brain can't take all of it in, much less get itself wrapped around the deeper meaning of deep space.
I understand the simplicity of the idea of getting from "here to there" and how much time that might take. I have no context in order to understand the concepts of "speed and distance" in deep space.
If you click on the link and look at the 4 minute clip, you will learn that scientists pointed the Hubble, the most powerful telescope ever built by human beings, at absolutely nothing for over 10 full days, for no other reason than because we were curious. The result was that we discovered that we actually occupy a very tiny place in the heavens.
Some thought them foolish. Others thought is a waste of important, precious time.
What we discovered, by looking at nothing in a tiny patch of insignificance - no stars, suns or galaxies and about the size of a grain of sand held out at arm's length - was that every dot, smear and spot was an entire galaxy and each one contained hundreds of billions of stars.
There are over 100 BILLION galaxies in the universe. Remember: We occupy only one planet in only one of those galaxies.
These galaxies, while standing absolutely still, are actually racing away from us, in some cases, faster than the speed of light.
So, even though something looks like it's just taking up space, it's actually moving so fast the eye can not detect it.
It reminds me of the humorous "Galaxy Song" by Monty Python. The last words of that little ditty are:
The universe itself keeps on expanding and expandingAnd, ain't that just the God's-honest truth?
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth.
This morning, I found myself reciting Canticle 12 "A Song of Creation" (Benedicite, omnia opera Domini) A Song of the Three Young Men (BCP, p. 88). It begins,
"Glorify the Lord, all you works of the Lord,It continues by praising God not only for the Cosmic Order, but for The Earth and its Creatures as well as The People of God.
praise and highly exalt God for ever.
In the firmament of God's power, glorify the Lord.
praise and highly exalt God for ever.
Glorify the Lord, you angels and all powers of the Lord,
O heavens and all waters above the heavens.
Sun and moon and stars of the sky, glorify the Lord.
praise and highly exalt God for ever.
This ancient prayer, its words standing still on the page, moved through time and distance and found a special place in my heart this morning.
I've always found these words in the Nicene Creed hauntingly beautiful, "We believe in God . . . maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen."
We echo that sentiment in the prayer for the newly baptized, "Give them an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works."
Sometimes, when we engage our curiosity - especially when it seems as if absolutely nothing is going on - something absolutely extraordinary results.
Sometimes, when we stand still for a moment, we discover just how fast we've actually been moving. Indeed, we can begin to measure just how far we've journeyed.
And, how far we've yet to go.
We just can't see it. Yet.
There is no Hubble Telescope to help us see into the deep space of our lives.
Our lives are not lived in 3-D animation.
And that, my friends, is why there is prayer and meditation.
It's a way to let our light shine from - and to let light shine into - the tiny space we actually occupy in the heavens.
That's my Very Big Discovery for today.
I came to it - or it found its way to me - while I was doing absolutely nothing.
Or, at least I thought I was. At the time.
Isn't that extraordinary?
No, no. Not that thought. Hundreds of thousands of people with intellect far superior to mine, in places more ancient and cultures far more primitive than the one in which I live have understood this.
At this very moment, someone is dying - gasping for their last breath - holding on to this one, precious gift of life we have been given, realizing, perhaps too late, what a gift it has been.
In that same moment, someone else of God's creatures is gasping their first breath of life, not yet knowing or realizing what a precious gift life really is - what they are taking into the new shape and form with which they will occupy this space in the heavens.
All the while, I am rejoicing as the sun dances and glistens on the waters outside my window while someone else is cursing the darkness, even as they stand in the bright light of day. God knows, I've done the same.
Yes, sometimes it seems that Monty Python is right "There's bugger all down here on earth," but I believe with all my heart that there is also intelligent life somewhere up in space. Perhaps it's sitting right next to me but I can't yet perceive it.
Sometimes, it takes looking curiously at nothing for a long period of time in order to be able to find it.
12 comments:
Actually they already knew we occupied an extremely small part of space. This just demonstrated it for our small brains. Remember a 100 billion galaxies and only 6 billion humans so multiple galaxies for each human :-). Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, has over 100 billion stars (and possibly several times that amount) and even though it is on the larger size for a galaxy it still means several hundred billion stars to every human.
You might also like this post on ultra deep field
It's really amazing, isn't it? Thanks for that article. It's clear to see from reading it why there is such a close relationship between Science and Religion.
close relationship? I have a feeling Phil Plait, the author, might be a bit taken aback.
Personally I like using some of the Hubble photos as computer desktop pictures. Looking at a close up of one of the 100 billion galaxies does give one a proper perspective.
I know. I think that's what I love most about the connection between Science and Religion. Most folks on either end of those two seemingly mutually-exclusive groups would dismiss the other as fools.
And God laughs and laughs and laughs.
When I was in my 20's I taught in a RC school outside of Houston where many of the NASA folks sent their children to school. Gene Krantz, the chief controller of the then Apollo project was one of "my parents." I was rather lukewarm on the space endeavor at the time and said so in his living room. Gene then got up and showed me some of the stuff that manned space flight had garnered. I was in awe. Since then I have looked to the heavens to remind me whose I am.
The passage "he can count the hairs on your head" has so much more meaning when you see it from the perspective of Hubble. The thought that even though science can show us the vastness of Universes and Galaxies far from us, it does not reduce even the hairs on my head to nothingness. If anything it raises it all to incredible consequence. It means that dust is significant.
It is in that sense that we sit in awe of what initiates that. However humanity calls God, or Science, there is a place where humanity must sit in awe at the vastness.
Thanks for the post, Elizabeth
Often I am privileged to be at the bedside when one is "gasping for their last breath - holding on to this one, precious gift of life we have been given, realizing, perhaps too late, what a gift it has been" and I hear Brahms lullaby over the hospital intercom announcing that "someone else of God's creatures is gasping their first breath of life, not yet knowing or realizing what a precious gift life really is" - the circle of life and everyone/everything in it enriches mine daily and I live with a grateful heart.
I am convinced that living with a grateful heart is the only way to live.
That’s why I’ve always been a fan of science fiction writers like Frank Herbert, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and the collaborative efforts of Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Their combined visions of the universe go far beyond the current constraints of science and religion. The one common factor in all their writings is hope; hope for the future of mankind.
Posts like these are why I keep coming back. If we as a church come together on the creeds- we can journey as God's people, in faith, if not always agreeing on the smaller details.
The Peace of Christ be with you, sister
Posts like these are why I keep coming back. If we as a church come together on the creeds- we can journey as God's people, in faith, if not always agreeing on the smaller details.
The Peace of Christ be with you, sister
I suspect the creeds are a sticking point but then I'm a humanist with Quaker leanings.
Re: The Science and Religion thing.
What I have discovered is that they are not opposites at all, but more of a yin-yang, if a person is brave enough to allow one to feed the other rather than place them at opposite ends of the room and stare at each other, hungrily.
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