Number of Stars in this "Uni"verse

[TatTvamAsi]

Namaste,

An article came out this week that scientists have come to the conclusion that the total number of stars in the (this?) universe is actually triple the number they had in mind before.

The total number of stars? Approximately 100 sextillion (10^23)!

Link: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/triple-amount-of-stars-discovered-101201.html

The funny thing is the reaction in the scientific community in the west. Many of these "scientists", are actually, and I quote, "disturbed", at this finding. Why? Humanity pales in significance even more!

See how these people are still christians through and through? They think they are secular etc. however the vAsanAs of their rotten mentality is stuck in their psyche. These people still think they are at the center of the universe; that they are the arbiters of everything, including the dissemination of knowledge that is already there! They actually think they are important and significant! LOL! The height of such ego and ignorance can hardly be found even in the bible-thumping ghettos, I mean, churches, of the west.

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam TTA: It would be so much easier just to say, "We don't know" once that to keep changing the mind. Alas admitting one does not know is far to deep when the ego is entrenched in intellect and the idea that 'we do know."

But this same concept of working outwards from an existing assumption is prevalent in all facets of life.

"What? You don't eat meat?"
"What? You eat meat?"
"Yes that is a big city."
"No that is a small city."

So IMHO, a challenge is to break out of the box. Not just the ones we see in others, but also the ones we don't see in ourselves. In Grade 6 art, I used to have the students do collages where they HAD to extend some of the glued pieces beyond the borders set by the paper. It was a simple exercise, and I uses to get a few, "What in the world are you talking about?" looks from the more rigid thinkers. Fortunately there were always a few who got it, and the other poor blokes and blokettes could follow along in their copying.

Aum Namasivaya

[sanjaya]

Actually, my first year of graduate school one of my astronomy professors took a couple minutes the first day to acquaint us with earth's position in the Milky Way, and to point out that we hold no significant place in the universe.

Of course he was one of those weird European atheists who attends church, so he was still more Christian than I'd care for...