why am i scared to look through a telescope? - more details?

Question

when i look through one, i get scared because i'm thinking of those planets, and how they're so far away just makes me think beyond the universe and to me i find it frightening. especially if i see planets close up in a book ex. i have an astronomy book, i get scared when i see this blow up very detailed picture of a planet, i can't explain whyy! what's wrong with me is it some kind of phobia
I find the space so amazingly interesting, i someday want to be come a cosmologist or cosmotologist whichever it is.

* also when i look through a telescope i try to think beyond the universe, and because of the inifinite aspect, how the universe never stops, leads to me to think their IS a god. Why are we here?? why did god decide for us to be here, is their even a god? if their is one, how did he even form? why is their even life, is this a dream/ how do dreams even exist? and why did god decide for their to be life.. and not for their to just be a just nothing place, no one thinking, BLANK.

Answer 1

I remember being scared of looking through my dad's telescope as an extremely young child. I think I was afraid I'd see aliens or something. But if you're still having that problem, cosmology may not be for you...lol.

It's interesting that you bring up the God question though - and that you posted this in R&S - because, as Gandalf up there says, it's more common for people to begin to doubt the traditional concept of "God" when they comprehend the vastness of the universe and the relative insignificance of our planet. Maybe that's why you're afraid.

Answer 2

Actually what you gotta do is first find a night photo of the US taken with an infra-red camera . Under those conditions any place that has any kind of civilization in at all will show up as a white spot on the map
Go to the most easily accessible and yet darkest place on the map -the area around Canyonlands NP works , put down a sleeping bag , get nekkid ,stare at the heavens, let the universe do it's magic and make you feel smaller then you ever have felt before .
I did that once in the back-country of GCNP and when I thought about the idea that something or somebody could have actually made all that I was looking at ,the absurdity of that idea hit me so hard that I actually busted out laughing. Imagine ,I'm completely alone ,the nearest person is at least a week away from me.I'm nekkid and I'm laughing out loud.
Then the Truth was revealed to me in all it's humbling glory and in one of the most humbling places on Earth ;That life on Earth is an accident That it has no business at all happening and yet it did and that THAT is the real miracle

Answer 3

Infinity does not equate to God, however, the fact that humanity is unable to conceive of an end to the universe without asking what is outside it could be used in Descartes famous trademark argument, and is a much more compelling innate factor then his concept of an inbuilt idea of God.
Why are we here is a much more challenging question, and if you do not start off with the belief in God then it can lead to some very interesting conclusions. For example, existentialism leads to the idea that our purpose is self determined, and logic along with cause an effect seems to support this in that we are here due to a simple physical process, without the need for further explanation.
In the end it is up to the individual to choose thier own reasons and meaning, not necessarily because it is right, but because it is all we can do by definition....

As to the fear, I can't even pretend to know your exact reasons, but I would suggest, as have others here, that it is in part caused by a combination of the enormity of the universe, your own finitude and size in comparison to it, and the fact that you are therefore limited in how much of it you can actually explore and see for yourself. Just a thought....


I'm An Atheist: Do you mean that the physical aspects of the universe, and matter are only spread out over a finite area, or that the universes extension in four dimensions is finite? I would think that although the actuall "stuff" of the universe is only spread over a discernable amount of space, the dimensions extend into forever, with the exception of the fourth which is known to have a beginning, making it a bit of an anomaly.

Answer 4

Interesting. Maybe you are scared.

Then again, since you know there's nothing to be scared of, keep looking; this feeling will most likely go away once you've gained a better understanding of what you're looking at.

And the word is cosmologist. As for the rest of your questions, that's what education is for. Go get yourself one. Good luck.

Answer 5

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour,
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,
Of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'.
Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars.
It's a hundred thousand light years side to side.
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick,
But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide.
We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point.
We go 'round every two hundred million years,
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth.

- Monty Python, The Meaning of Life

Answer 6

It's possible that the fear comes from all the unanswered and unknowable questions... maybe not a real *fear*, but more of an anxiety because there is so much that is unknown and out there to wonder about. You do sound like you have *a lot* of questions, so maybe it's all just too much for you all at once.

Answer 7

Well, neither a cosmologist nor a cosmotologist needs to look through a telescope, so you're OK there.

Answer 8

Everyday experience goes out the window when dealing with most astronomical scales. Start with the moon. A number of cars have driven the distance from the Earth to the Moon. The diameter of the Moon is comparable to a trip from New York to Las Vegas. Perhaps that's a place you can start.

Answer 9

What you're experiencing is awe. Most people cherish it. I'm not a psychologist, but I play one on the internet, so my analysis of why it scares you is because you fear death, and that type of experience forces you to consider your own finite nature.

Answer 10

Carey, you're a smart, inspired person. I don't have the answers to the questions you're asking. But keep asking them and someday you might find the answers. And I'll keep looking for your name in my Scientific American!