[Music]
I’m an astrophysicist so it probably
won’t surprise you that I want to talk
about science but what I mean by that
probably will surprise you I won’t be
showing any equations so you can relax I
won’t be referring to the periodic table
or even highlighting any of the
technology that science has made
possible
all those things are important but I
want to emphasize something very
different I’d actually like to focus on
you Blandy each of us each of you and
your relationship to yourself to your
friends and family and the person
sitting next to you to all the people in
your life and to the rest of Earth and
the universe as a whole science can
teach us something that transcends
technical intellectual knowledge it can
teach us something about our experience
that transforms that experience in our
awareness of who we are and what we’re
capable of I’ve been teaching astronomy
in physics for over 20 years to a wide
range of audiences from grade school
kids to graduate students to the general
public and throughout that time I’ve
noticed a kind of contradiction on the
surface I’m teaching specific technical
knowledge and yet that’s not really the
heart of the message I’m trying to
convey it’s not what motivates me to
teach and what students seem to resonate
most deeply with know the core value of
the science I teach is something that
happens kind of in the spaces between my
words between equations are right on the
chalkboard between the laws and the
theories that we study all those things
are just pointers to help us see
something much deeper that can’t be
directly expressed in words or equations
so let me give you an example that I
hope will enable us to actually feel
this experience together rather than you
just listening to me talk about the
experience so close your eyes for a
moment and turn your full awareness to
what it feels like
internally to be you right now are you
tired or hungry joyful bored
anxious are worried about something
maybe just curious to find out what I’ll
say next sift through whatever stories
you’re telling yourself in words about
what’s happening in your life and try to
get to the heart of the direct
experience of being you what does it
feel like does it have a color a smell a
taste a texture
perhaps a sound when you feel immersed
in the experience of Yunus open your
eyes and look around the room at all the
other people here with you make eye
contact if you can maybe go on a limb
and smile acknowledge them acknowledging
that although everyone’s experience is
different in some ways we all have very
much in common there’s something it’s
like to be each person something not
that different from what it feels like
to be you now expand your awareness out
beyond just the people in this room to
our larger community of more than 7
billion humans and all the other beings
with whom we share this planet hold this
all in your awareness as concretely as
you can this invisible but very real
layer of subjective experience that
permeates our planet and now add one
more piece visualize the physical size
of Earth the largest thing that most of
us can concretely imagine so go
somewhere in your mind’s eye where you
can really feel the immensity of Earth
maybe at the coast looking out over the
ocean okay you’re there now take a look
at this image it’s one of the most
breathtakingly beautiful photographs
I’ve ever seen it was taken by the
spacecraft Cassini orbiting Saturn and
looking back toward the Sun so you can
see sunlight sparkling through ice
crystals that make up the rings of
Saturn much as you might enjoy sunlight
sparkling through icicles you know
hanging from a tree on a sunny winter
day here on earth and now I’d like you
to focus on that tiny dot indicated by
the arrow I’ve added in the photo can
you see it I don’t know if you can can
you guess what it is yes it’s us earth
everything that any of us has ever
thought or felt enjoyed or worried about
happened there within that dot well just
take a breath and really let that soak
in the value of science that I’m talking
about is the transition that happens
inside of you at the moment you
recognize that you’re part of that tiny
dot and that dot lives within a vast
cosmic context as the impact of this
awareness sinks in I suspect your
thoughts and feelings change at first
you may feel very very small as you
become aware of the tiny physical size
of Earth compared with the rest of our
solar system not to mention our galaxy
of hundreds of billions of Suns and our
universe of at least that many galaxies
yet the core insight is not about
feeling small but about feeling
connected to immensity to all of this
and more your identity expands to fill
the vastness and you become something
different than you were a moment before
your personal experience becomes an
integral part of something much much
bigger every time this transition
happens for me I feel it viscerally I
almost shudder and catch my breath Carl
Sagan eloquently described the
experience there is a tingling in the
spine a catch in the voice a faint
sensation as if a distant memory of
falling from a great height we know we
are approaching the grandest of
mysteries if you remember only one thing
from my talk I hope you’ll remember this
feeling the sensation of being connected
to your larger self your cosmic context
and I hope you’ll remember how to get
back to that feeling whenever you want
to you can deliberately create this
experience at any time insights from
science offer portals into this
experience
I call them glimpses of wonder to
emphasize that there are distinct
moments of internal experience and not
just the scientific facts by themselves
they happen when something shocks us
into recognizing concretely that we are
part of a vast and deep and mysterious
reality that extends far beyond any
particular story we can tell about
what’s happening to us at that moment
astronomical insights do this well if
they have high shock value because they
transport us to far beyond our familiar
experience they remind us of other
worlds other life even the beginning and
end of time itself whenever I set up a
telescope on a street corner I’m amazed
at how quickly people from all walks of
life are drawn in to that cosmic
perspective as they look with their own
eyes at craters on the moon or the rings
of Saturn or a nebula where baby stars
are being born so astronomy is a great
portal but other Sciences and even just
ordinary everyday observations can be
glimpses of wonder as well for example
when a raindrop lands on the tip of your
nucleus all you have to do is wonder
what puddle of water or plant did it
evaporate from or what distant star
formed the oxygen atoms that are now
part of that raindrop questions like
these help you realize that the pattern
forming your identity is part of a much
faster pattern spanning billions of
years and light-years it includes
earth’s ecosystem that nourishes and
sustains us it includes sunlight that
drives and sustains our ecosystem it
includes ancient Suns whose deaths
literally formed the elements that now
make up your body and even earlier
cosmic conditions that created the
environment in which these Suns could
form at all in the long run I think its
ability to transport us into these
expanded states of awareness is the most
important
roll scientific knowledge will play in
the future of humanity even more
important than technology I believe this
because many of our difficulties whether
individual or social or planetary arise
from narrowness of perspective we forget
that no matter what situation we’re in
there’s always another way to see things
so expanding our awareness can help us
avoid being stuck or trapped in one
point of view kind of keeps our minds
nimble right it gives us access to a
much broader range of perspectives and
tools and ultimately solutions of course
this doesn’t mean you can or should stay
in a cosmic perspective all the time
which is my I might like to we need
narrow focus sometimes to understand the
details of a situation or simply to get
things done but having ready access to a
cosmic perspective is incredibly
empowering it literally connects you to
your larger self it reminds you that you
are a moment of awareness within one
strand of a vast and inner woven cosmic
tapestry you’re part of a thread that
traces all the way back to the Stars and
beyond to the beginning the origins of
the universe itself seeing yourself as
an extension of the creative power of
the whole universe empowers you to
rewrite your story when you need to and
not remain stuck in an unhealthy or
limiting story I mean if your entire
universe of thoughts and feelings can
turn out to be a tiny dot in a photo of
Saturn then what else may not be as it
seems
perhaps we’ll think I’m naive to suggest
that such a simple change in perspective
could make a real difference for the
complex problems we find ourselves
entangled within but I would love to see
what might happen if every meeting among
world leaders began with a brief
ceremonial exercise designed to
transport participants
into this cosmic perspective an exercise
that transcended local beliefs and
cultural practices you know something
like what we just did looking at the
Cassini photo of Earth as a dot and just
in my personal experience this simple
change of perspective has helped me
through countless challenges large and
small from shaking off tiny
inconveniences and perceived failures to
a broken heart to illnesses and major
life transitions to just finding new
solutions to old problems it even helped
me through the fairly significant
anxiety of coming out on stage to talk
with you here today the perspective by
itself doesn’t solve your problems but
it puts you in a frame of mind from
which solutions seem to just kind of
naturally arrive in any case you don’t
have to take my word for it try it for
yourself you can start right now look
again the pic assini photo and then
close your eyes and notice what it feels
like to be you in this new moment notice
what happens and who you become
internally when you embrace the
realization that you are an expression
of the whole cosmos in human form
whatever you create with each moment
going forward into the future is a
strand within a vast cosmic tapestry
that transcends any particular attempt
to describe it completely so there’s
always room for you to redefine it with
this perspective in mind look around the
room once again at a few of your fellow
humans what will you create with this
moment before you and the next moment
and the next
I for one look forward to finding out
and to marveling at the unfolding beauty
of the cosmic tapestry a tapestry that
all of us with a little help from the
rest of the universe will create
together thanks for listening
[Applause]
[Music]
I’m an astrophysicist so it probably
won’t surprise you that I want to talk
about science but what I mean by that
probably will surprise you I won’t be
showing any equations so you can relax I
won’t be referring to the periodic table
or even highlighting any of the
technology that science has made
possible
all those things are important but I
want to emphasize something very
different I’d actually like to focus on
you Blandy each of us each of you and
your relationship to yourself to your
friends and family and the person
sitting next to you to all the people in
your life and to the rest of Earth and
the universe as a whole science can
teach us something that transcends
technical intellectual knowledge it can
teach us something about our experience
that transforms that experience in our
awareness of who we are and what we’re
capable of I’ve been teaching astronomy
in physics for over 20 years to a wide
range of audiences from grade school
kids to graduate students to the general
public and throughout that time I’ve
noticed a kind of contradiction on the
surface I’m teaching specific technical
knowledge and yet that’s not really the
heart of the message I’m trying to
convey it’s not what motivates me to
teach and what students seem to resonate
most deeply with know the core value of
the science I teach is something that
happens kind of in the spaces between my
words between equations are right on the
chalkboard between the laws and the
theories that we study all those things
are just pointers to help us see
something much deeper that can’t be
directly expressed in words or equations
so let me give you an example that I
hope will enable us to actually feel
this experience together rather than you
just listening to me talk about the
experience so close your eyes for a
moment and turn your full awareness to
what it feels like
internally to be you right now are you
tired or hungry joyful bored
anxious are worried about something
maybe just curious to find out what I’ll
say next sift through whatever stories
you’re telling yourself in words about
what’s happening in your life and try to
get to the heart of the direct
experience of being you what does it
feel like does it have a color a smell a
taste a texture
perhaps a sound when you feel immersed
in the experience of Yunus open your
eyes and look around the room at all the
other people here with you make eye
contact if you can maybe go on a limb
and smile acknowledge them acknowledging
that although everyone’s experience is
different in some ways we all have very
much in common there’s something it’s
like to be each person something not
that different from what it feels like
to be you now expand your awareness out
beyond just the people in this room to
our larger community of more than 7
billion humans and all the other beings
with whom we share this planet hold this
all in your awareness as concretely as
you can this invisible but very real
layer of subjective experience that
permeates our planet and now add one
more piece visualize the physical size
of Earth the largest thing that most of
us can concretely imagine so go
somewhere in your mind’s eye where you
can really feel the immensity of Earth
maybe at the coast looking out over the
ocean okay you’re there now take a look
at this image it’s one of the most
breathtakingly beautiful photographs
I’ve ever seen it was taken by the
spacecraft Cassini orbiting Saturn and
looking back toward the Sun so you can
see sunlight sparkling through ice
crystals that make up the rings of
Saturn much as you might enjoy sunlight
sparkling through icicles you know
hanging from a tree on a sunny winter
day here on earth and now I’d like you
to focus on that tiny dot indicated by
the arrow I’ve added in the photo can
you see it I don’t know if you can can
you guess what it is yes it’s us earth
everything that any of us has ever
thought or felt enjoyed or worried about
happened there within that dot well just
take a breath and really let that soak
in the value of science that I’m talking
about is the transition that happens
inside of you at the moment you
recognize that you’re part of that tiny
dot and that dot lives within a vast
cosmic context as the impact of this
awareness sinks in I suspect your
thoughts and feelings change at first
you may feel very very small as you
become aware of the tiny physical size
of Earth compared with the rest of our
solar system not to mention our galaxy
of hundreds of billions of Suns and our
universe of at least that many galaxies
yet the core insight is not about
feeling small but about feeling
connected to immensity to all of this
and more your identity expands to fill
the vastness and you become something
different than you were a moment before
your personal experience becomes an
integral part of something much much
bigger every time this transition
happens for me I feel it viscerally I
almost shudder and catch my breath Carl
Sagan eloquently described the
experience there is a tingling in the
spine a catch in the voice a faint
sensation as if a distant memory of
falling from a great height we know we
are approaching the grandest of
mysteries if you remember only one thing
from my talk I hope you’ll remember this
feeling the sensation of being connected
to your larger self your cosmic context
and I hope you’ll remember how to get
back to that feeling whenever you want
to you can deliberately create this
experience at any time insights from
science offer portals into this
experience
I call them glimpses of wonder to
emphasize that there are distinct
moments of internal experience and not
just the scientific facts by themselves
they happen when something shocks us
into recognizing concretely that we are
part of a vast and deep and mysterious
reality that extends far beyond any
particular story we can tell about
what’s happening to us at that moment
astronomical insights do this well if
they have high shock value because they
transport us to far beyond our familiar
experience they remind us of other
worlds other life even the beginning and
end of time itself whenever I set up a
telescope on a street corner I’m amazed
at how quickly people from all walks of
life are drawn in to that cosmic
perspective as they look with their own
eyes at craters on the moon or the rings
of Saturn or a nebula where baby stars
are being born so astronomy is a great
portal but other Sciences and even just
ordinary everyday observations can be
glimpses of wonder as well for example
when a raindrop lands on the tip of your
nucleus all you have to do is wonder
what puddle of water or plant did it
evaporate from or what distant star
formed the oxygen atoms that are now
part of that raindrop questions like
these help you realize that the pattern
forming your identity is part of a much
faster pattern spanning billions of
years and light-years it includes
earth’s ecosystem that nourishes and
sustains us it includes sunlight that
drives and sustains our ecosystem it
includes ancient Suns whose deaths
literally formed the elements that now
make up your body and even earlier
cosmic conditions that created the
environment in which these Suns could
form at all in the long run I think its
ability to transport us into these
expanded states of awareness is the most
important
roll scientific knowledge will play in
the future of humanity even more
important than technology I believe this
because many of our difficulties whether
individual or social or planetary arise
from narrowness of perspective we forget
that no matter what situation we’re in
there’s always another way to see things
so expanding our awareness can help us
avoid being stuck or trapped in one
point of view kind of keeps our minds
nimble right it gives us access to a
much broader range of perspectives and
tools and ultimately solutions of course
this doesn’t mean you can or should stay
in a cosmic perspective all the time
which is my I might like to we need
narrow focus sometimes to understand the
details of a situation or simply to get
things done but having ready access to a
cosmic perspective is incredibly
empowering it literally connects you to
your larger self it reminds you that you
are a moment of awareness within one
strand of a vast and inner woven cosmic
tapestry you’re part of a thread that
traces all the way back to the Stars and
beyond to the beginning the origins of
the universe itself seeing yourself as
an extension of the creative power of
the whole universe empowers you to
rewrite your story when you need to and
not remain stuck in an unhealthy or
limiting story I mean if your entire
universe of thoughts and feelings can
turn out to be a tiny dot in a photo of
Saturn then what else may not be as it
seems
perhaps we’ll think I’m naive to suggest
that such a simple change in perspective
could make a real difference for the
complex problems we find ourselves
entangled within but I would love to see
what might happen if every meeting among
world leaders began with a brief
ceremonial exercise designed to
transport participants
into this cosmic perspective an exercise
that transcended local beliefs and
cultural practices you know something
like what we just did looking at the
Cassini photo of Earth as a dot and just
in my personal experience this simple
change of perspective has helped me
through countless challenges large and
small from shaking off tiny
inconveniences and perceived failures to
a broken heart to illnesses and major
life transitions to just finding new
solutions to old problems it even helped
me through the fairly significant
anxiety of coming out on stage to talk
with you here today the perspective by
itself doesn’t solve your problems but
it puts you in a frame of mind from
which solutions seem to just kind of
naturally arrive in any case you don’t
have to take my word for it try it for
yourself you can start right now look
again the pic assini photo and then
close your eyes and notice what it feels
like to be you in this new moment notice
what happens and who you become
internally when you embrace the
realization that you are an expression
of the whole cosmos in human form
whatever you create with each moment
going forward into the future is a
strand within a vast cosmic tapestry
that transcends any particular attempt
to describe it completely so there’s
always room for you to redefine it with
this perspective in mind look around the
room once again at a few of your fellow
humans what will you create with this
moment before you and the next moment
and the next
I for one look forward to finding out
and to marveling at the unfolding beauty
of the cosmic tapestry a tapestry that
all of us with a little help from the
rest of the universe will create
together thanks for listening
[Applause]
[Music]
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