The Essence of Shakta in the Words of a Scientist

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The Cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever will be. We

ourselves are made of starstuff. We embody the local eyes and ears

and thoughts of the Cosmos. We are a way for the Cosmos to know

itself.

 

The same laws of nature determine the fall of an apple on Earth, the

flight of an interplanetary spacecraft and the stately dance of

galaxies billions of light years distant. The same chemical

elements, the same laws of quantum mechanics apply everywhere in the

Cosmos. These regularities are described by a mathematics as

elegant and precise as a partita for solo violin by J.S. Bach.

 

There are a hundred billion galaxies and a billion trillion stars.

We witness a Cosmos resplendent with beauty and perhaps rippling

with life -- an awesome reminder of the power and subtlety of the

laws of nature and the triumph of cosmic evolution.

 

These contemplations of the Cosmos stir us -- looking outward to the

grandest of mysteries returns us to ourselves. As our understanding

deepens, so does our awe.

 

Science is a collective enterprise that binds the generations in an

ongoing venture to discover the nature of the Universe. Our

obligation to survive is owed not just to ourselves, but also to

that Cosmos, ancient and vast, from which we spring.

 

-- Carl Sagan (1934-1996), astronomer, philosopher and poet