Our Place In The Universe
It is often asked, “what is our place in the universe?”. Well, here is a great video from the American Museum of Natural History showing the cosmic perspective.
Carl Sagan – ‘A Glorious Dawn’
For those of you who may not have seen this yet, it is an amazing compilation of Carl Sagan clips Autotuned to make a pretty cool and profound song.
Enjoy!
Well, there’s that. The true reason for the season, then there is the overused Christian canard that implies that the birth of their savior is the ‘reason’ for the Christmas season. If they wish to cite the honest reality of why the Christmas holiday is in late December, maybe a Blackbeard figurine should replace the baby Jesus in the manger, because this holiday has been pirated.
A consensus of historians will agree that if the Jesus of Nazareth from biblical writings existed, he was likely born in late spring or early summer based on circumstances cited. Such as, activities regarding the shepherds in the field with their flock, something that would likely not occur during the coldest part of the year.
A more likely explanation of why the Christian ‘Christmas’ is celebrated on December 25th is as follows. During the first and second centuries, as the religion was spreading, Paganism was widespread and had a winter celebration centered around the solstice. It was called Saturnalia. By co-opting (pirating) this holiday into the Christian religion it made for an easier conversion. With the additional piracy of the pagan spring fertility festival as the ressurection holiday for their saviour, Christianity became a more accomodating assimilation.
So, in the true spirit of the season, Happy Solstice! Celebrate, cherish your loved ones and be safe!
I don’t know how many regular readers are still with me/still subscribed but, I am going to make a more concerted effort to return to some sort of a regular posting schedule.
If any of you have suggestions for topics or general criticism/praise, I am listening.
Sincerely,
BGH
