Cosmology and Growth

dauer · 08-19-2008, 09:54 PM

Does your cosmology help you to be a better person? If so, how?

wil · 08-19-2008, 10:11 PM

A religious or scientific or metaphysic or ... cosmology?

Cosmology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The separations of the waters above and below doesn't do me much for me...

Now laying in the desert chasing constellations around the sky, tis a meditative experience.

dauer · 08-19-2008, 10:39 PM

Wil,

whichever floats your boat.

Tao_Equus · 08-19-2008, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dauer

Does your cosmology help you to be a better person? If so, how?

I think so. I hope so. Looking outward I find to be equally an inward looking journey. As profoundly as I am moved by the scale and magnificence of the Universe I am humbled before it. Reminded that I am so tiny, so limited and here so very briefly to appreciate it. It gives me a perspective on the reality I live that hopefully prevents me taking my time here for granted.

tao

Nick_A · 08-20-2008, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dauer

Does your cosmology help you to be a better person? If so, how?

First, how do you define a "better person?"

dauer · 08-20-2008, 12:25 AM

Nick,

I don't. That's for those who post in the thread to do for themselves. Leaving things open-ended means more people can share their thoughts without getting limited by semantics.

Nick_A · 08-20-2008, 12:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dauer

Nick,

I don't. That's for those who post in the thread to do for themselves. Leaving things open-ended means more people can share their thoughts without getting limited by semantics.

But you can give your personal opinion. Can cosmology make YOU a better person?

dauer · 08-20-2008, 12:52 AM

Nick,

Your question isn't a direct response to my answer to your question. It's a separate question and if it is an attempt to restate my OP, I don't think it captures the flexibility of my question. Nonetheless, I am waiting for others to share their perspective before I add my own.

-- Dauer

AndrewX · 08-20-2008, 05:05 AM

Dauer,

What a great question! Bringing the subject of cosmology down to the practical.

I like to think that what I believe about Cosmos, and origins of & beyond our planet, does affect how I live my life ... including my outlook on the world. It affects my understanding of both myself, and others, on a personal level. Best of all, it gives me reason to view life positively, even when "bad things happen to good people," this kind of thing.

Really I can be quite a cynic. But I feel certain that people are basically good at heart. All people. I know we can become crusty sometimes ... encrusted by our vices, negative habits of thought, speech and action. But none of that utterly buries or negates who and what we are on the inside -- of this, I am actually certain.

With this kind of conviction, and with the belief in the law of karma, that what goes around, comes around ... I feel like it becomes possible to accept certain cosmological points, or to live in denial. But we cannot change what is, in the greater sense. Or rather, we don't really need to, save only slightly.

And that brings our focus back down to Earth, and the current experiences of humanity on our planet, at this time, no matter what we might happen to believe about the stars above.

Yes, the study of the Heavens seems to hold much potential Wisdom, or Insight for us ... yet if it is not applied in our own, personal lives -- the microcosm -- then frankly, who cares?

I mean, seventy-eleven odd million Buddhas might pop out of an egg somewhere, or an entire Galaxy wink into the next Cosmic dimension, and I believe that certainly these things may and do affect us, even if we don't know about it. But suppose we do. What of it?

If it inspires us, helps to direct our actions (in a more beneficial way), and motivates us ... even toward self-improvement alone, not to mention toward becoming better servers ... then there may even be no end, literally, to the resonance patterns that are being & have been created.

Just so it doesn't become only so much mental masturbation ... or fuel for the monkey mind.

Peace,

andrew

wil · 08-20-2008, 01:05 PM

I contemplate what I see as problems, personal problems, or world problems, and then look at this picture. Two galaxies traveling through one another
ripping each other apart. My little blue ball is in orbit...what is not to like?

Tao_Equus · 08-20-2008, 01:20 PM

I had that image as my desktop background for a while, it is beautiful. Our galaxy is on collision course with Andromeda and may well one day present such a spectacle.

tao

seattlegal · 08-20-2008, 01:23 PM

Hey, wil! Space. It's really really, really Big!

(I guess it goes with the title of the thread: Cosmology and Growth!
Try using this code instead:
[img]http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0802/ngc4676_hst.jpg[/img]

dauer · 08-20-2008, 02:52 PM

Wil,

have you ever played around with the sky view in google earth? It's pretty incredible. I few weeks ago I sat for a couple hours listening to a kirtan version of "oseh shalom" while zooming at random toward a celestial object that caught my eye and zooming back. There are also a few types of constellation overlays that are awesome. I had a dream last night that I was on top of my building and could see all of the stars and galaxies and constellations (I should have taken it as a dreamsign, given the poor visibility of the sky in the city and how close everything was, ah well, lucidity can wait.)

wil · 08-20-2008, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SL

Hey, wil! Space. It's really really, really Big!

Thanx, corrected...didn't know what I did wrong there.

but yeah, see that stream of solar systems between the two...

Now that is a roller coaster ride...

My blister is a problem until I think about not being able to walk, which is a problem till I contemplate my cousins lost in a fire, which is a problem until I contemplate genocide which is a problem till I contemplate galaxide...

They are all issues, but they are all relative..and all my issues are miniscule...

wil · 08-20-2008, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dauer

Wil,

have you ever played around with the sky view in google earth? It's pretty incredible. I few weeks ago I sat for a couple hours listening to a kirtan version of "oseh shalom" while zooming at random toward a celestial object that caught my eye and zooming back. There are also a few types of constellation overlays that are awesome. I had a dream last night that I was on top of my building and could see all of the stars and galaxies and constellations (I should have taken it as a dreamsign, given the poor visibility of the sky in the city and how close everything was, ah well, lucidity can wait.)

No, haven't sounds addictive. Went to an astronomy club once with all these 'spensive telescopes and space nerds. They'd push a button and the thing would move to the next nebula you could walk up and look but the real geeks had their laptops displaying the view, outrageous.