The Music That I Played for the Video (Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu)
The Hubble Deep Field View of the Universe:
This photo was taken over the course of several days from the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995. It depicts a part of the sky previously thought to be quite empty except for a few faint starts in the Milky Way. What it depicts, and this surprised astronomers at the time, is that a tiny part of the sky, 1/24,000,000th of the Northern Hemisphere's night sky, or about the size of a tennis ball held out 100m away, actually contains about three thousand of galaxies dating back to a billion years after the big bang. They took a similar photo of the Southern Hemisphere and discovered that it, too, had 3,000 galaxies supporting the theory that the universe is uniformly populated by galaxies - and the further away they are the older they are.
Why do People Practice Religion?
Most people feel that there is a realm beyond their own physical reality. Something beyond our five senses. Because we can't verify what that other reality is we have a need to "verify" that other reality through faith.
FEAR - some are concerned that after they die they might end up somewhere not so nice, so through their belief they believe they'll end up in heaven. Look up "Pascal's Wager."
One of our natural human tendencies (part of our Human Nature) is to maintain deep seated fears that our ancestors held. We have insecurities about being alone, death, doing the wrong thing, sickness, disease, sadness and hopelessness. We fear the power of nature and our small position in it.
WONDER - nature remains quite mysterious for most people. Many things in nature that are not explainable through our current understanding are called "miracles." This is used as evidence of the "super" natural. Is it all random or is it carefully designed by a higher being? For some people what remains poorly explained by science is explained through spirituality.
QUESTIONING - many people will not accept that their existence is limited to their time on earth. Few of us want to go through life alone and we certainly do not want to face death alone. Most of us do not accept that chance rules out lives - rather we want to control our destiny through free will and perhaps with the intervention of a God or higher power.
IDENTIFY - is it enough to be identified with a label that's relevant only here on earth? Labels like,
student
sibling
friend
athlete
worker
rocker
skater
jock
etc.
For most people something more long-lasting and meaningful is necessary and they find that in spirituality.
INTUITION - many of us feel unfulfilled by our material wealth. Even though we have dominated the earth we still do not feel fulfilled (U2's "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" for example). Many religions were founded by inspired leaders who had ideas about a different and improved reality.
BIG QUESTIONS - most people are curious about big questions in life, many of which we have already referred to . . .
Who am I?
What is right and wrong?
Why are we here?
Where did all this come from?
Why is there suffering? etc.
Your job is to write (in your own notes) what five of YOUR big questions are.
1. Is there life elsewhere in the universe?2. Are our personalities based more on nature or nurture?
3. Why do we love and feel the need to be loved? (Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs?)
4. Why the paradox of great hate in the world despite the deep need for love?
Next complete, with a partner, the What Dreams May Come and Similarities Between Religions sheet.
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