Cosmology for Atheists (et al.): Does this realization cause you to pause?

Question

I must admit to a romantic streak, but the following interrupted my thinking for about an hour:

Eleven years ago this week the Hubble Telescope took the following picture of galaxies BILLIONS of light years away from earth:

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1996/01/image/a/format/web_print

Assume for now that humans are the ONLY sentient living beings in the universe. This would mean that for Billions of years these galaxies (and Billions more) have come into being, and spawned stars, planets, & other interstellar structures.

BUT until this picture was taken, no living creature ever saw them or understood what they were seeing. They just existed without meaning.

Our generation is the first witness. The first ever. In the entire 15 billion year history of the universe. And to us, they have meaning.

Does this idea, at least momentarily, stop you in your tracks and provide you with awe?

Even without believing in God?

(Comments encouraged.)

Y_Doncha: I hope you're right.

Marc P: If the galaxy's still there, it's yours if you can get to it. Only 8 billion light years away. Put on your backpack: It's gonna be a long hike.

Smarty Pants: Meaning only comes from awareness. Without God, only living creatures have the capacity for awareness.

Dellow: That's my point. Awe at the universe requires no god. When we are the ones that supply meaning, then our observation becomes all that more important, both to us and to the objects of our observation.

There are some really good answers here. Oddly enough, some seem to reflect atheistic "spiritual" experience. I'd like the rest of the Y!A community to decide on the answers.

Peace guys. We'll find out who gets the 10+ points in a couple of days.

.

Answer 1

That was beautiful.

I mean, I wish I could say something more profoud... I wish I could comment on the scope and grandeur of all existence and the vast expanses of space, time and experience... but I'm sure this image and this milestone speaks for itself.

Answer 2

That IS my God. The Universe certainly has all the power in the Universe, it's certainly omnipresent, and if it can see, it can see everything in the Universe. It follows rules and patterns, and could quite possibly have intelligence.

It's awe-inspiring and more beautiful than words can describe. But I find it hard to believe that we're the only ones who have ever seen it. With all those galaxies, with all their stars and planets, there's a lot of potential for life-creating environments.

I declare myself God-Emperor of the big yellow one on the far right. I'll be levying a tax on all of its inhabitants as soon as possible.

Answer 3

The human mind performs a simple function, but it does this function at tremendous magnitude. That function is to figure out the value of everything around it relative to itself. Many things we can make rapid assumptions about, because those things are so commonplace or because we can see others using it. Essentially, the human mind tries to find a meaning for everything, but the only things we get hung up on are the new things which are hard to conceptualize. Look at the history of human explanations for the forces of nature. For thousands of years, humans placed meaning on the observation of what we now know as normal natural forces. We thought they were the acts of gods personally interacting with us, telling us their wishes, turns out they aren't. Just because our brains place a meaning on something only means our brains are doing the thing they always do, and it certainly doesn't mean that meaning is right. History tells us that it takes science and physical evidence to tell us that. Remember, people find meaning in the shape of burnt potato chips that look like Elvis.

Answer 4

As others have pointed out, saying that agnosticism is "fence sitting" is a misunderstanding of what agnosticism really is. Many agnostics probably DO "sit on the fence." But that's not what it's all about. In short, agnosticism is about knowledge moreso than belief. In regards to theism, an agnostic is someone who believes that it is not possible to know whether or not any deities exist. However, such a person can still form a belief regarding deities. Examples: Agnostic atheist: "I don't think it's possible to know for sure that deities exist or don't exist, but I don't believe that any deities exist." Agnostic theist: "I don't think it's possible to know for sure that deities exist, but I still believe in a god."

Answer 5

While I seriously doubt we are the only beings in a universe so vast, it is still an awe inspiring photo.

I wonder if the other beings have seen our galaxy yet and what feelings does it invoke in them?

Fascinating stuff for sure.

Answer 6

Interesting thoughts - and a beautiful picture as well...

But, I cannot assume that we are the only sentient beings in the universe. I just cant. That is way too egocentric.

What is even more awe inspiring to me is that each of those galaxies COULD HAVE supported beings very much like us, very much asking each other these same questions...

Answer 7

Gives me very sobering thoughts

That's why I believe that life exists throughout the universe and throughout billions and billions of years.

The entire history of this planet, of this solar system isn't even a hiccup in the big picture of this universe so far and an even smaller hiccup considering the future life of the universe

AND...

This entire universe may be a hiccup in a grander realm of countless universes

THAT blows my mind

Something that blows my mind even more ...

People on this planet kill each other over the most trivial of things, like different interpetations of their holy book

Shouldn't we all just be looking up at the universe and letting it blow us away?

Answer 8

While I don't accept your premise that we are the first, I agree that the deep field pictures should awe us all. I find the universe infinitely inspiring. Whether or not other intelligences exist, we are still merely one small part of a great majesty.

Answer 9

Isn't science amazing? A round of applause for those who made taking these pictures possible, and for the generations upon generations of scientists that made it possible.

Answer 10

Awwwe.

Just think; some of those stars and galaxies don't even exist any more except as the light we can see.

Answer 11

It is breathtaking.

Only goes to show that Nature can be wonderful without needing a supernatural entity to explain it all.

BTW I call dibs on the blue galaxy on the right. Its mine!