Life After Sagan
Last night, my eyes filled with tears.
I was reading the book 'The Demon-Haunted World,' by late American science popularist Carl Sagan -- incidentally, a true hero of mine -- and he unexpectedly opened one of his chapters with:
My parents died years ago. I was very close to them. I still miss them terribly. I know I always will. I long to believe that their essence, their personalities, what I loved so much about them, are - really and truly - still in existence somewhere.
I wouldn't ask very much, just five or ten minutes a year, say, to tell them about their grandchildren, to catch them up on the latest news, to remind them that I love them.
There's a part of me - no matter how childish it sounds - that wonders how they are.
"Is everything all right?" I want to ask. The last words I found myself saying to my father, at the moment of his death, were "Take care."
Wow.
This is a man writing on the subject of superstition, life after death, UFOs, religions, mystical powers -- and why we shouldn't believe in any of it -- unveiling something universal in us all.
That very human emotion of grief, loss, a yearning for love.
What does chapter opening say to you?
What does it inspire you to do, or change? How does it make you feel? And how could you alter your day and attitude - in honour of those words?
You never know what you have... until you don't have it.
Don't risk taking taking anything in life for granted.
Eh?
Labels: inspiration, random acts of kindness, self-development
by Karl
5:12 PM
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1 Comments:
Karl.
Im not one to say someone shouldn't believe in any of it.
It would be a bit like telling you, you should believe in it
We should allow each person the right to decide for themselves as to what they believe in this life.
Sure I think its good to share with each other what, we each individually believe or dont believe but definately the issues come up when any one of us steps over the line and says.. what is good for me, is good for everyone
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Jon | Adventures of The Fearless, at
9:28 PM
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