Why do we even pose the query?

That is an absolutely awe-inspiring photo.

Thanks Judi

These deep field photos show galaxies that are so far away that by now have crossed over the cosmic event horizon. As long as the universe keeps expanding, they will be causally disconnected from us. We can only catch faint glimpses of what once was, long ago. Eventually the light will catch up and they will wink out.

The odds are great that the universe is teeming with life. If it happened once it will happen again. We just think we’re special.

I suspect the same will happen with the cosmos.

An infinite universe, if it exists, creates some awkward possibilities when it comes to abiogenesis. The Cosmos doesn't care if we have friends outside of our solar system to play with and seems to be much better at making rocks than sentient beings. In fact, the Cosmos seems to want to kill us.

... the number of galaxies in just that wee patch of space. Now tile together a complete sphere in which we stand. Still counting? Of course you are. And that's just the galaxies, each of which contains a gazillion stars, give or take a squillion.
It is statistically impossible for there NOT to be other life forms out there, a great many of which may well look upon us as quaintly archaic, and more than a little dangerous. Hell, I look on us as quaintly archaic, and more than a little dangerous.

So. What else is new?

Of course that particular god may have days composed of millions of years --- or billionths of a second. Who knows except the bibble?

We have trouble wrapping our minds around the very big and the very small.

Thanks Judi Lynn, I think we should call you "Professor Judi Lynn". Seriously.

People want to imagine that our little planet is the focus of some sky wizard’s attention.

It is not.

Reality is far more awe-inspiring than nonsensical human-made mythology.

It looks kinda like a J. Pollock piece.




Okay, , already.

Reading this brings me a kind of quiet joy. The multiverse is more marvellous than we can ever know, and every new revelation expands our hearts and minds.

I don’t know why people feel the need to fight “religion” in these instances — but when they do they reveal they know only a tiny slice of the philosophies and practices called religion.

Thousands of years ago the Hindus wrote their own stories of the cosmos, of many worlds coming into being and passing away and forming again over countless ages.

Pantheists think sacredness abides in the whole world — there is no “sky daddy” to fight, and why would you?

Neopagans reach back for words and concepts to make sense of the world as we experience it, and bring back the names of old gods and goddesses. Nearly all of them are self-aware of what they are co-creating, and live grounded in this century.

Everywhere I look I see beliefs in the divine by many names, and only a few, a very few, would feel in any way threatened by this wonderful scientific window into creation.

For myself — a kind of quiet joy that fills my heart. Life goes on in endless song.