I am not one for writing in TSP these days, but as of late a particular trend in scripture has stood out to me that gets to one of the fascinating things I notice in some literature about humanity at large. I don't who this phrase is attributable to but nonetheless, I find it the appropriate way to begin this reflection: "our eyes evolved to scan the horizon and for prey and predators, for trees and spots to live. Because we are humans, we chose to look up at the stars and wonder." The Christian in me says we looked up not just for the stars, but to find God.

To this point of the use of space in scripture, look at God's promise to Abraham when he promises to give him descendants as numerous as the stars. When Jesus was born it was a star that guided the Three Kings to Bethlehem. Angles were said to descend from heaven to greet the shepherds the night Jesus was born. The second line in "O Holy Night" is "the stars were brightly shining" Outside of the Christian tradition, constellations were said to be pictures of mystical heroes in many cultures, and astrology is based entirely around space and the movement of things we cannot control.

This is where my Calvinist tendencies get the best of me as perhaps the fascination with space is the same as our fascination with the divine in that both explain things we cannot control. We cannot control the movement of the moon or the orbits of the planets just as we cannot control the divine plan for our lives. The difference is we can choose to follow the plan, while stars can't choose where they are placed. Yet both the plan and the night sky continue to entrap our curiosity as they are all divinely wonderful and beautiful

I hope all is well with all of you. Further, I hope Seraph won't mind my using this thread.

Ω

P.S.: Maybe I'll post more reflections as I think of them. We'll see.