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Post by dahduh on Dec 1, 2009 9:40:18 GMT
You quite often hear atheists talking about 'awe'. Carl Sagan stands dumb-struck at the magnificence of the the Universe. Richard Dawkins says "I can feel just as much awe as any theist", as if there is some kind of competition to see who can feel the most awe.
Well I don't feel awe. I sometimes feel a little astonished when I contemplate the fact that the Universe even exists, and I'd really like to know how that works, but I don't feel any shiver of awe. And I'm not even sure what 'spiritual' means, and how you would distinguish it from the joy of listening to a great piece of organ music echoing around a beautiful cathedral. Is it the same thing?
So how many atheists go for this 'awe' thing? Do you think it is important?
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Post by cheekymonkey on Dec 1, 2009 11:50:33 GMT
It's such a subjective thing. If you've never had it you're hardly going to miss it and if you think you've had a sense of the numinous or a feeling of awe or something then you probably have, it's not like you can get into someone else's head and compare notes anyway.
What does spiritual mean? It means, you know, like, it's like....spiritual, you know?
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Post by Roarian on Dec 1, 2009 19:14:09 GMT
You can call it many things, probably some people call awe 'spirituality' while yet others go for 'numinous' or 'God' or just 'Astonishment'  Must say the most surefire way to do it for me is to play the first episode of Sagan's Cosmos. As a child, that set me on the road to scientific discovery, and it still gives me chills remembering how enraptured I was. I wonder where I'd have ended up without that 'inspiration'. |
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Post by dahduh on Dec 2, 2009 19:38:07 GMT
You can call it many things, probably some people call awe 'spirituality' while yet others go for 'numinous' or 'God' or just 'Astonishment' Must say the most surefire way to do it for me is to play the first episode of Sagan's Cosmos. As a child, that set me on the road to scientific discovery, and it still gives me chills remembering how enraptured I was. I wonder where I'd have ended up without that 'inspiration'. I think I must be missing the numinous gene then. But Cosmos, brilliant - and I think Vangellis also had something to do with it. Maybe I am just jaded, but music is the one thing that still brings on chills. Have you seen the Symphony of Science clips, with Sagan starring? I'll bet he never knew he had a posthumous singing career ahead of him! Here's a good one: |
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Post by anjtuesday on Dec 2, 2009 21:40:59 GMT
When I was a wee kiddo I used to be awestruck by
1) German "Captain Future" soundtrack and narration
2) Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio play and TV show music
3) "Send Me An Angel" by Real Life
4) "Temple of Love" by The Sisters of Mercy
I.e. if it was darkly splendid in some way it struck a chord with me.
But it seems it had to be art about the universe, not the universe itself.
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Post by dahduh on Dec 4, 2009 20:07:49 GMT
When I was a wee kiddo I used to be awestruck by 1) German "Captain Future" soundtrack and narration 2) Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio play and TV show music 3) "Send Me An Angel" by Real Life 4) "Temple of Love" by The Sisters of Mercy I.e. if it was darkly splendid in some way it struck a chord with me. But it seems it had to be art about the universe, not the universe itself. Well, you seem to have an eclectic set of awe-full buttons! Thanks for filling in a gap in my education concerning Real Life and Sisters of Mercy - both on YouTube, but neither of them do it for me. On the other hand, here's one that hits my button every time; I suppose it could be described as 'darkly splendid', but in a very different genre: |
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