The author, Alan Lightman, incorporates in most of his essays,” Face to Face with the universe”, how inmense the universe is among human beings. He implies that compared to life in earth we are insignificant to the wonders that the universe holds. That the universe is a complex and unexplainable atmosphere that is difficult to comprehend. Lightman almost seems fascinated by how beautiful he finds everything that involves astronomy but also how odd it can be. He questions the place of human beings in the universe. Alan Lightman, implies that humans compared to the universe have no greater impact than the universe can have on humans, and humans are not capable to understand beyond what they can see. He mentions in his essays the way astronomers
In Alan Lightman’s, “Our Place in the Universe,” he describes his experiences in the Greek Isles explaining how meek it made him feel to be surrounded by the vast ocean with no land in sight except a small strip of brown in the distance. Great thinkers throughout history, have been exploring the visible variety of shapes, colors, and sizes, though the greatest of these are size, from the smallest atom to gargantuan stars. These massive differences in size change the way we view ourselves in the universe. (470) Garth Illingworth, from the University of California, has studied galaxies more than 13 billion light years away from us.
James W. Sire is a Christian author with a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. He teaches English, philosophy, theology and other courses at many universities. It is no surprise that he published a book about different worldviews. His most popular book is The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog that was published in 1976. The Universe Next Door has sold over 350,000 copies and has been translated into 19 languages. The Universe Next Door describes and discusses eight different popular worldviews.
High school can be tough, but when people add traumatic events, life changing situations, and judgemental teenagers to the mix it can get worse. The world may seem like it’s ending, but it's important to remember that this is only a small portion of life. Not only like, but the world. The key to getting through high school is close and important friends. In the novel Holding Up The Universe by Jennifer Niven, the author tells the reader that trust is not given, but earned.
Within William Rowe’s Chapter two of “The Cosmological Argument”, Rowe reconstructs Samuel Clark's Cosmological Argument by making explicit the way in which the Principle of Sufficient Reason, or PSR, operates in the argument as well as providing contradictions of two important criticisms from Rowe’s argument.
In the article The Cosmic Perspective by Neil deGrasse Tyson he examines a range of topics from human life coming from Mars to how our perspective of the universe relates to religion. In the year 2000, a new space show opened at the Hayden Planetarium called Passport to the Universe, which compared the size of people Milky Way and beyond. While a show like this might make someone feel minuscule and insignificant, Tyson says that seeing the size of the universe actually makes him feel more alive not less and gives him a sense of grandeur. I agree with his idea that looking at us as a people in comparison can actually give you a sense of grandeur. However, when I compare myself to the vastness of space, it puts events on Earth in perspective while showing how influential we can be as a people even if we are small.
To live in a world without human connection, is to live an empty and meaningless life. Both Karen Armstrong, and Robert Thurman, highlight the necessity of human contact throughout their essays. In his text “Wisdom,” Robert Thurman shows us the path to discover the selflessness of what we believe is our true and actual self. He claims that no matter how hard one might try to find themselves, they will only find a rigid, fixated self. But when we finally accept our selflessness and turn away from our egos, we can become compassionate and experience the void, which he defines as a free and boundless self. Additionally, Karen Armstrong debates that the universe is driven by concepts such as “Being,” and “Brahman,” which both represent the ultimate
Whenever I suggest the novel to the uninitiated, they often say that they are not interested in the sciences. This novel is more like art and poetry, I reply. Einstein's Dreams is Lightman's first work of fiction, although he previously wrote at least six books and for several magazines. Lightman currently teaches physics and writing at M.I.T. From these two seemingly conflicting backgrounds come reviews like "A wonderfully odd, clever, mystical book of meditations on time, poetically spare and delightfully fresh" and "Endlessly fascinating. A beguiling inquiry into the not-at-all theoretical, utterly time-tangled, tragic and sublime nature of human life."
Sire, James W. The universe next door: a basic worldview catalog. 3rd ed. Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 1997.
The novel, Alice and Quantum Land, by Robert Gilmore is an adventure in the Quantum universe. Alice, a normal teenage girl, goes through quantum land and understands what quantum is and how it works. The quantum world is a difficult one to understand, as its nature is one of complex states of being, natures, principles, notions, and the like. When these principles or concepts are compared with the macro world, one can find great similarities and even greater dissimilarities between the world wherein electrons rule, and the world wherein human beings live. In Alice in Quantumland, author Robert Gilmore converts the original tale of Alice in Wonderland from a world of anthropomorphic creatures into the minute world of quantum mechanics, and attempts to ease the reader into this confusing world through a series of analogies (which comprise an allegory) about the principles of quantum mechanics. Through Alice’s adventure she comes across some ideas or features that contradict real world ideas. These ideas are the following: Electrons have no distinguishing spin, the Pauli Exclusion Principle, Superposition, Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, and Interference and Wave Particle Duality.
An underlying theme present throughout the series is the possibility that our existence is not the only one. According to current theories in physics, it is entirely possible that our universe is just one of many universes f...
In the poem “Cascadilla Falls” by A. R. Ammons, the poet writes about an evening where the narrator visited a stream below the falls. Although, man’s role in nature has always been questioned, humans have always been the center of the universe revolving around us. In the poem, Ammons makes a strong statement against humanism by relating natural occurrences in nature to human beings. The universe is a vast place with endless possibilities and we live on a planet that is teeming with life. Humans, however, have taken over this world and view other life forms as inferior and abuse nature for resources.
In this paper I will present two differing views on the topic of the design argument. In particular, I will explain William Paley's view supporting the design argument and Bertrand Russell's view against the design argument. After a presentation of the differing views, I will then evaluate the arguments to show that William Paley has a stronger argument.
I absolutely love Steven Universe. It is a great show for both teenagers and kids. I really enjoy this show because of the great characters and the many questions that are yet to be answered. This show has beautiful visuals and has a very 1970’s ‘look’ to it. This show is mainly aimed at kids but non the less very enjoyable for teenagers. To parents reading this, this show does look into the LGBT relationships and some parents don’t agree with it so this is something you want to know before letting your younger kids watch it, even though these things are shown a little bit. On Common Sense Media parents have voted that Steven Universe should be watched by kids 10+ I would say the same because of the LGBT references. For
Carl Sagan in his “Pale Blue Dot” purpose is to convince the audience that they need to consider their vulnerable position in the universe and let this knowledge motivate them to improve the way they treat each other and the planet. What the author is doing is getting his audience to get up and take notice of the world around them and show them how small mankind truly is. Mr. Sagan uses Pathos to show how insignificant the planet Earth truly is by stating, “Consider again that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us”. Sagan gets our emotions involved by showing us just how important a pale blue dot can be to just one species from six billion kilometers. Referring to the earth as our home supports his claim that we should protect the planet
Imagine, only being able to see the stars or the sun once every thousand years, think about how privileged one would feel to be in its presence. Emerson writes in the following quote; "If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had shown! ”. We do not need to wait every thousand years to see the stars, they are always present in the sky, we do however need to learn how to appreciate the beauty and the feelings of inspiration one might get when gazing up into the cosmos; the feelings, and the impression of wisdom, happiness and simplicity. Furthermore, Emerson believed that the cosmos could create a feeling of reverence; due to their inaccessibility despite this one must remain open-minded to their