How Can We Humans Be So Blind

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             This planet whereon we reside
             gave nature’s bounty far and wide.
             We’ve seen our Mother Earth from space
             who barely shows her fragile face
             as Pale Blue Dot, sunbeam enshrined,
             and still we humans are so blind.

             The cosmic reaches hugely grand
             are vaster than we understand.
             We know not of a single place
             where kindred creatures would be graced
             with crucial features so combined.
             But oh we humans are so blind.

             We’ve self-importance off the scale,
             self-interest beyond the pale,
             yet if our sweep of self were more
             than just what enters through our door
             it could be good for all Mankind.
             How can we humans be so blind?

             If only we’d be even wise
             enough to open tight shut eyes
             and seek reality’s true guise
             from whence awareness dawns arise,
             a search within would surely find
             that humans need not be so blind.


             ~ Harley White



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“The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena… Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves… It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world… To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

From comments by Carl Sagan in his 1994 book, ‘Pale Blue Dot’…

Further inspiration derived from the teachings of Nichiren Daishōnin…

Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō is the single phrase by which we unite and fuse ourselves and our lives (Nam[u]) with the deepest, most encompassing dimension of reality, within and without, [Utterness of the Dharma, entirety of existence past, present and future, enlightenment and unenlightenment] (Myōhō), permeated by the inner and outer workings of all aspects of cause and effect, their interdependencies, and all their reaches, [underlying white lotus flower-like mechanism of the interdependence of cause, concomitancy and effect] (Renge), in its whereabouts of every possible realm or wavelength of psychological existence (Kyō). The one phrase Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō encapsulates all of reality and the entirety of existence. It is the formula by which we call forth and access our own deepest enlightenment. And when enlightenment manifests from within, it obtains protection from without, profound and all-encompassing…

From: The reason that we continually recite Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō…

Image description ~ For the 30th anniversary of one of the most iconic images taken by NASA’s Voyager mission, a new version of the image known as the “Pale Blue Dot”. Planet Earth is visible as a bright speck within the sunbeam just right of center and appears softly blue, as in the original version published in 1990. This updated version uses modern image-processing software and techniques to revisit the well-known Voyager view while attempting to respect the original data and intent of those who planned the images.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech