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| Do Litter [Flickr page] |
We who breathe air now will join the already dead layers of us who breathed air once. We arise from dirt and dwindle to dirt, and the might of the universe is arrayed against us.
—Annie Dillard, For the Time Being
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| Sun through Low Clouds [Flickr page] |
This universe is shot through with mystery. The very fact of its being, and of our own, is a mystery absolute, and the only miracle worthy of the name.
—Sam Harris, The End of Faith
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| Woodpecker Home [Flickr page] |
The trees of the LORD are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted; where the birds make their nests: As for the stork, the fir trees are her house. The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies. He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.
—Psalm 104
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| Forests within Forests [Flickr page] |
So far, about 1.75 million species have been scientifically documented, an almost incomprehensible number. However, this represents just a small fraction of the number of species currently on Earth, which by most estimates are in the tens of millions.
—Daniel J. Fairbanks, Relics of Eden: The Powerful Evidence of Evolution in Human DNA
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| Moonrise [Flickr page] |
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
—Max Ehrmann, Desiderata
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| Curious Companion Cat [Flickr page] |
The seeds of things
In random and spontaneous collision
In countless ways clashed, heedless, purposeless, in vain
Until at last such particles combined
As suddenly united could become
The origins always of mighty things,
Of earth, sky, sea, and breeds of living creatures.
In random and spontaneous collision
In countless ways clashed, heedless, purposeless, in vain
Until at last such particles combined
As suddenly united could become
The origins always of mighty things,
Of earth, sky, sea, and breeds of living creatures.
—Lucretius, On the Nature of Things (c. 50 B.C.), tr. by Ronald Melville
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| Larch Litter [Flickr page] |
There are a hundred billion neurons in the brain, each making thousands of connections to other cells. There are more connections in a single cubic centimeter of brain tissue than stars in our galaxy, and yet our inner experience offers absolutely no clue that this is the case. We’re not just slightly out of touch with the material basis of our inner lives, we’re completely out of touch with it. I actually think about the human brain a fair amount, but it almost never occurs to me that I have one.
—Sam Harris, Lecture “Death and the Present Moment”
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Click on individual images to enlarge, or check out my most “interesting” photos on Flickr. All are Copyright © 2013-14 Edwin A. Suominen. You may freely use them for non-commercial purposes, with attribution, under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
