There is a lurking fear that some things are not “meant" to be known, that some inquiries are too dangerous for human beings to make.

Where we have strong emotions, we're liable to fool ourselves.

Observation: I can't see a thing. Conclusion: Dinosaurs.

For myself, I like a universe that, includes much that is unknown and, at the same time, much that is knowable. A universe in which everything is known would be static and dull, as boring as the heaven of some weak-minded theologians. A universe that is unknowable is no fit place for a thinking being. The ideal universe for us is one very much like the universe we inhabit. And I would guess that this is not really much of a coincidence.

We are all made up of star stuff.

The reappearance of the crescent moon after the new moon; the return of the Sun after a total eclipse, the rising of the Sun in the morning after its troublesome absence at night were noted by people around the world; these phenomena spoke to our ancestors of the possibility of surviving death. Up there in the skies was also a metaphor of immortality.

If we are to survive, our loyalties must be broadened further, to include the whole human community, the entire planet Earth.