Sagan: Pale Blue Dot

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 an 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 here — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. 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 1994

[This writing by Dr. Sagan is one of the most profound ever written. We are coming up to Earth Day 2023. Earth is in trouble environmentally and politically. The future is far from certain. The dot is in a photo taken by Voyager just before it left our Solar System. Sagan reminds us how precious and sacred our small planet home really is.]

A Prayer for Easter

[This prayer was sent by a company named, Unspoken Elements. I offer a suggestion for you to visit them at unspokenelements.com.

Heavenly Father,

We come before you with hearts full of gratitude and joy as we celebrate Easter, the glorious day of your Son’s resurrection.

We thank you for the ultimate sacrifice of your Son, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins and rose again on the third day, defeating death and giving us the hope of eternal life.

On this day, we celebrate the victory of light over darkness, of life over death, and of love over hate. We rejoice in the new life and hope that Easter brings and ask that you fill our hearts with joy and peace.

We ask that you bless us with your presence and guide us with your wisdom. Help us to spread your love and light to those around us and be a shining example of your grace and mercy.

My this Easter season be a reminder to us all of your great love and the power of your resurrection. We offer our thanks and praise to you, O Lord, and ask that you continue to bless us with your abundant grace.

In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen

[We all need to pray for our families and for our Country and for President Donald J Trump. Times are perilous and filled with darkness. We must both pray and act.]

Easter Day

Easter Day — Jesus Christ Has Risen

Here we are on Easter Day 2023. My family has lost a son/brother/father at way too young an age. Much of his life was still before him. We mourn and can only pray that he is now at peace and safely in the hands of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and all ancestors that have gone before him. Mark will be forever missed until the day we all follow him in our own dying day.

His father, Kent