Written by: Bill Bryson, A Short History Of Nearly Everything
Introduction
Welcome. And congratulations. I am delighted that you could make it. Getting here wasn't easy, I know. In fact, I suspect it was a little tougher than you realize.
To begin with, for you to be here now trillions of drifting atoms had somehow to assemble in an intricate and curiously obliging manner to create you. It's an arrangement so specialized and particular that it has never been tried before and will only exist this once. For the next many years (we hope) these tiny particles will uncomplainingly engage in all the billions of deft, co-operative efforts necessary to keep you intact and let you experience the supremely agreeable but generally under appreciated state known as existence.
Why atoms take this trouble is a bit of a puzzle. Being you is not a gratifying experience at the atomic level. For all their devoted attention, your atoms don't care about you - indeed, don't even know that you are there. They don't even know that they are there. They are mindless particles after all, and not even themselves alive. (It's a slightly arresting notion that if you were to pick yourself apart with tweezers, one atom at a time, you would produce a mound of fine atomic dust, none of which had ever been alive but all of which had once been you.) Yet somehow for the period of your existence they will answer to a single rigid impulse: to keep you you.
Written by: Bill Bryson, A Short History Of Nearly Everything
Welcome To The Solar System
Our solar system might be the liveliest thing for trillions of miles, but all the visible stuff in it - the Sun, the planets and their moons, the billion or so tumbling rocks of the asteroid belt, the comets and other miscellaneous drifting detritus - fills less than a trillionth of the available space. You also quickly realize that none of the maps you have ever seen of the solar system was drawn remotely to scale. (...)
Such are the distances, in fact, that it isn't possible, in any practical terms, to draw the solar system to scale. Even if you added lots of fold out pages to your textbooks or used a really long sheet of poster paper, you wouldn't come close. (...)
Even if you shrank down everything so that Jupiter was as small as the full stop at the end of this sentence, and Pluto was no bigger than a molecule, Pluto would still be over 10 metres away. (...)
Now , the other thing you will notice as we speed past Pluto is that we are speeding past Pluto. If you check your intinerary, you will see that this is a trip to the edge of our solar system, and I'm afraid we're not there yet. (...)
We won't get to the solar system's edge until we have passed through the Oort cloud, a vast celestial realm of drifting comets, and we won't reach the Oort cloud for another - I'm so sorry about this - ten thousand years. Far from marking the outer edge of the solar system, as those schoolroom maps so cavalierly imply, Pluto is barely one-fifty-thousandth of the way.
Written by: BB's SHONE
The Mighty Atom
At sea level, at a temperature of 0 degree Celsius, one cubic centimetre of air (that is, a space about the size of a sugar cube) will contain billion billion molecules. And they are in every single cubic centimetre you see around you. Think how many cubic centimetres there are in the world outside your window - how many sugar cubes it would take to fill that view. Then think how many it would take take to build a Universe. Atoms, in short, are very abundant.
the best smiles are the ones you lead to
--
Help! My personality got stuck in this signature machine and I cant get it out!
ॐ
Owner of burningoftheclavey
Owned by Lost83spy
-Mike
Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella
A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura
Only three things are certain: Death, Taxes, and that England will not win back the Ashes in this lifetime.
the best smiles are the ones you lead to
Written by: Mojojo
Are we meant to guess the rest of the line?
-Mike
Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella
A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura
on spam robots - "Burn the robot! Melt him down, and then we can make lots and lots of money from his shiiiny juices!"
Owned by Brenn
If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh
Written by: Stone
As a standard candle, I don’t think understanding the Universe and it's laws will lead to a better understanding of humankind. Actually, I think it’s a load of rubbish. A waste of time, a sidetrack that takes us away from understanding into the mysteries of existence, because the answer lies within.
You mentioned Buddha, and he discovered the path to Nirvana. That path has nothing to do with planets, planes, reincarnation or other ego induced lunacy.
It’s very simple, if you want to understand the mysteries of existence, then check out the Dhamma. A good example can be found in Heart-wood from the Bo Tree by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu.
As an example of our ephemeral existence, the planet formerly known as Pluto is now just just a number. The former planet has been dubbed asteroid number 134340 to reflect its new status as a "dwarf planet."
Cheers
the best smiles are the ones you lead to
If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh
the best smiles are the ones you lead to
If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh
Written by: Bhikku Buddhadasa
"While walking through the forest, the Buddha picked up a handful of fallen leaves and asked the monks who were present, which was the greater amount - the leaves in his hand or all the leaves in the forest. They all said that the leaves in the forest were much more, so much so that it was beyond comparison.
Even now, try to imagine the scene and see the truth of this, how much more they are.
The Buddha then said that, similarly, those things which he had realized and which he knew were great amount, equal to all the leaves in the forest - but that which was necessary to know, those things which should be taught and practiced, were equal to the number of leaves in his hand."
Written by: BB
"We must appreciate that this "single handful" is not a huge amount, it's not something beyond our capabilities to reach and understand."
the best smiles are the ones you lead to
Written by: FireTom
@Doc: not fair to put out such a teaser and let us experience a "coitus interruptus" here - finish the sentence. Please. There might be an interesting aspect to this.
Written by: Alastair Reynolds in his short story "Understanding Space and Time"
"Do you think its a coincidence that I've reached this point in my quest at the same time that I'm teetering on the edge of collapsing into myself?"
"We confess we hadn't given the matter a great deal of thought, beyond the immediate practicalities."
"Well I have. And I've been thinking. Way back when, I read a theory about baby universes."
"Continue..." said the Kind warily.
"How they might be born inside black holes where the ordinary rules of space and time break down. The idea being that when the singularity inside a black hole forms, it actually buds off a whole new universe, with its own subtly altered laws of physics. That's where the information goes: down the pipe, into the baby universe....
"Perhaps it isn't coincidence. Perhaps this is just the way it has to be. You cannot attain ultimate wisdom about the universe without reaching this point of gravitational collapse. And at the moment you do attain final understanding -- when the last piece falls into place, when you finally glimpse that ultimate layer of reality -- you slip over the edge into irreversible collapse.
"I admit it's speculative. But there is something rather beautiful and symmetric about it, don't you think? In the universes where there is intelligent life, one or more sentient individuals will eventually ask the same questions I asked myself, and follow them through to this point of penultimate understanding. When they achieve enlightenment, they exceed the critical density and become baby universes in their own right. They become what they sought to understand."
"You have no proof of this."
"No, but I have one hell of a gut feeling. There is, of course, only one way to know this for sure. At the moment of understanding, I'll know whether this happens or not."
"And if it doesn't..."
"I'll still have achieved my goal. I'll know that, even as I'm crushed out of existence. If, on the other hand, it does happen...then I won't be crushed at all. My consciousness will continue, on the other side, embedded in the fabric of space and time itself." John paused, for something had occurred to him. "I'll have become something very close to..."
"Don't say it, please," the Kind interjected.
-Mike
Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella
A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura
Written by:
An existence that is not coined by conditionings of "good and evil", "peace and war", "acceptance and rejection", etc. but one that overcomes all these dualities in definition and leads to a wholesome, content life?
Written by:
The Buddha then said that, similarly, those things which he had realized and which he knew were great amount, equal to all the leaves in the forest - but that which was necessary to know, those things which should be taught and practiced, were equal to the number of leaves in his hand.
Written by:
Why is it "ego driven" to respect that "every one is choosing their own path to their liking"? I regard it as completely opposite: altruistic (to provide this tolerance and accept the world (and mankind) as it is today).
Written by:
Where do you specifically find the difference between "rebirth" and "reincarnation"?
If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh
the best smiles are the ones you lead to
If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh
Written by: FireTom
Doc... thanks for adding the paragraph before the sentence... am I coming across too demanding, if I'd ask you to add what came after it?
-Mike
Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella
A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura
the best smiles are the ones you lead to
Written by: FireTom
If you find a "dogma" in what I am saying, may you point at it specifically, please? I personally can't.
Written by: FireTom
All "-isms" (to me) are institutionalized philosophies and hold no more or less proof about "the truth" than scientism...
It's all "A mountain of theories, based upon a molehill of knowledge".
"You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it."
--MAJOR KORGO KORGAR,
"Last of The Lancers"
AFC 32
Educate your self in the Hazards of Fire Breathing STAY SAFE!
If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh
Written by: Stone
Here is a clue, human beings are not planets.
If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh
Written by: Stone
You suffer because you remain glued to the cycle of birth and death.
Written by: Stone
I’m not going to attempt to explain that while you remain closed to new ideas. As far as paths go, the secret is to get off the path of irregular steps (mountain of theories) and on to the path of regular steps.
Written by: OWD
To condemn all 'isms', without having experienced them, or doing extensive research, on each and every one of them, could itself be seen as dogmatic.
the best smiles are the ones you lead to
Written by:
IMHO the "genuine philosophy" is the one that places all kind amidst the Universe and helps them to realize themself as an "as much vital part of it as it is itself". Which you may claim for Buddhism now if you wish, again you may have to face the question why then Buddhism is so little successful (in numbers).
Written by:
I'm merely saying that by observing the nature of the Universe you get valuable clues back of mankind and subsequently yourself. Everything originates from the same source and therefore is interconnected. This is an essential part of "The Truth", which is...
If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh
the best smiles are the ones you lead to
If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh
Don't hate me because I am different, hate me because I still think I am better then you!