18+ General Discussion Forum

Oh good, another thread. I've just finished rereading Carl Sagan's "The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God." I don't think it will wreck the read to let you know that by the end, he still hadn't found Him. His widow and collaborator, Ann Druyan reports that he still hadn't found Him at the time of his death.

Carl Sagan said some wonderful things like:

Superstition is marked not by its pretension to a body of knowledge but by its method for seeking truth...It is merely belief without evidence.

He was not religious, but he had an appreciation for the religious sensibility, the sense of awe, which he could achieve by looking up on a clear night. He also said:

I would suggest that science is, at least part, informed worship.

And also,

That the same laws of physics apply everywhere is quite remarkable. Certainly that represents a power greater than any of us….Now it would be wholly foolish to deny the laws of nature. And if that is what we talk about when we say God, then no one can possibly be an atheist…

So you can see what got me going on that whole ten commandments thing.

What have you been reading, Sully?

Marcia

Quote of note: “I believe that the cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest motive for scientific research” - Albert Einstein