Sunday, September 06, 2009

The Incredibility of Nothingness

These are but two infinitesimal black dots explored in the vastness of the sky. The narrator eloquently describes the incomprehensibility of the universe then finally says, "We cannot help but be changed by this." But of all the over million people who have watched this video (and the other versions of it), has anyone changed, really?

What is the "altar call" of the universe? What demand does the cosmos make on someone? What commitment do undiscovered galaxies require? From what will you turn, and unto what? Humility before mind boggling vastness of numbers and distances is far different than humility before a far more incomprehensible Creator of it all. There is light years of difference between "Wow" and "Lord have mercy".

"...the intelligence which is full of babbling and which investigates the measurements and distances of sky and earth, and the size of the sun and the stars, characterizes a man who labours in vain. Fruitlessly vaunting himself, he pursues what is without profit, as if wishing to draw water with a sieve; for no man can resolve these matters."
St. Antony the Great.


No comments: