Zen Moments II
This random pattern of stones looks beautiful to me. It almost looks like it was designed, but of course it wasn't. It is just the way the world is. But to see it is the really important thing.
Did you know that astronomers have calculated that there are far more stars in our known universe (let alone those we do not know yet) than there are grains of sand on earth? It's hard to get our head around the vastness of this universe, when we realise how utterly insignificant we are by comparison. But as the French philosopher and mathematician, Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) once said, "Man is only a reed, but at least he's a thinking reed."
As far as we know, human beings are the only creatures in the universe with a consciousness so evolved that we are able to make calculations about the size of our universe. How blessed we are. In many ways the emergence of human intelligence (not always an oxymoron), is the universe becoming conscious of itself.
THE NUMBERS
According to calculations based on rigorous observations, there are 10,000 stars for every grain of sand on earth.
Approximately 7.5 x 10 to the power of 18 grains of sand on earth = 7.5 quintillion.
1 x 10 to the power of 24 to 2 x 10 to the power of 24 stars in the known universe = 1-2 septillion.
Mindboggling. No wonder the Bible translator, J.B. Phillips, once wrote a book called, Your God is Too Small.
Zen Moments II
This random pattern of stones looks beautiful to me. It almost looks like it was designed, but of course it wasn't. It is just the way the world is. But to see it is the really important thing.
Did you know that astronomers have calculated that there are far more stars in our known universe (let alone those we do not know yet) than there are grains of sand on earth? It's hard to get our head around the vastness of this universe, when we realise how utterly insignificant we are by comparison. But as the French philosopher and mathematician, Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) once said, "Man is only a reed, but at least he's a thinking reed."
As far as we know, human beings are the only creatures in the universe with a consciousness so evolved that we are able to make calculations about the size of our universe. How blessed we are. In many ways the emergence of human intelligence (not always an oxymoron), is the universe becoming conscious of itself.
THE NUMBERS
According to calculations based on rigorous observations, there are 10,000 stars for every grain of sand on earth.
Approximately 7.5 x 10 to the power of 18 grains of sand on earth = 7.5 quintillion.
1 x 10 to the power of 24 to 2 x 10 to the power of 24 stars in the known universe = 1-2 septillion.
Mindboggling. No wonder the Bible translator, J.B. Phillips, once wrote a book called, Your God is Too Small.