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God
Glimpses...
One doesn't have to be a "Pantheist" to appreciate
The Sacred as reflected in the microcosm and macrocosm of the
physical universe...
The religious traditions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity
quote the following from their sacred texts...
The
heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth
his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto
night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where
their voice is not heard...
The
heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see
his glory...
Psalm 19.1
Psalm 97:6
"I
believe that every fact of nature is a revelation of God, is
there such as it is because God is such as he is...…all
of its facts impress us so that we may learn of God unconsciously...his
things seen, by which we come to know the things unseen...…
The "Birth" of a Star
...How should we imagine what we may
of God, without the firmament over our heads, a visible sphere,
yet a formless infinitude! The truth of the sky is what it makes
us feel of the God that sent it out to our eyes...it’s
laws are the waving of his garments, waving so because he is
thinking and loving and walking inside them"… George
MacDonald, Unspoken Sermons, "The Truth"
The Lagoon Nebula
"Let
him who would know the love of the Maker become sorely athirst
and drink of the brook beside his path--then lift up his head
to the inventor and mediator of thirst and water, that man might
foresee a little of what his soul may find in God. If he become
not then as a hart panting for the water-brooks, let him go
back to his science and its husks; for they will in the end
make him thirsty..." (George MacDonald, Unspoken
Sermons, The Truth)
Hubble
Captures Celestial Wheel Within a Wheel...
A
nearly perfect ring of hot, blue stars pinwheels about the yellow
nucleus of an unusual galaxy known as Hoag's Object. This image
from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captures a face-on view of
the galaxy's ring of stars, revealing more detail than any existing
photo of this object. The image may help astronomers unravel
clues on how such strange objects form. The entire galaxy is
about 120,000 light-years wide, which is slightly larger than
our Milky Way Galaxy. The blue ring, which is dominated by clusters
of young, massive stars, contrasts sharply with the yellow nucleus
of mostly older stars. What appears to be a "gap"
separating the two stellar populations may actually contain
some star clusters that are almost too faint to see. Curiously,
an object that bears an uncanny resemblance to Hoag's Object
can be seen in the gap at the one o'clock position. The object
is probably a background ring galaxy. A nearly perfect ring
of hot, blue stars pinwheels about the yellow nucleus of an
unusual galaxy known as Hoag's Object. The galaxy is 600 million
light-years away in the constellation Serpens. The Wide Field
and Planetary Camera 2 took this image on July 9, 2001. CREDIT:
NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Acknowledgment:
Ray A. Lucas
Ring-shaped
galaxies can form in several different ways. One possible scenario
is through a collision with another galaxy. Sometimes the second
galaxy speeds through the first, leaving a "splash"
of star formation. But in Hoag's Object there is no sign of
the second galaxy, which leads to the suspicion that the blue
ring of stars may be the shredded remains of a galaxy that passed
nearby. Some astronomers estimate that the encounter occurred
about 2 to 3 billion years ago. Astronomer Art Hoag discovered
this unusual galaxy in 1950. Hoag thought the smoke-ring-like
object resembled a planetary nebula, the glowing remains of
a Sun-like star. But he quickly discounted that possibility,
suggesting that the mysterious object was most likely a galaxy.
Observations in the 1970s confirmed this prediction, though
many of the details of Hoag's galaxy remain a mystery. The galaxy
is 600 million light-years away in the constellation Serpens.
The Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 took this image on July
9, 2001.
Explanation: Why does the Sombrero Galaxy look like a hat? Reasons
include the Sombrero's unusually large and extended central
bulge of stars, and dark prominent dust lanes that appear in
a disk that we see nearly edge-on. Billions of old stars cause
the diffuse glow of the extended central bulge. Close inspection
of the bulge in the above photograph shows many points of light
that are actually globular clusters. M104's spectacular dust
rings harbor many younger and brighter stars, and show intricate
details astronomers don't yet fully understand. The very center
of the Sombrero glows across the electromagnetic spectrum, and
is thought to house a large black hole. Fifty million-year-old
light from the Sombrero Galaxy can be seen with a small telescope
towards the constellation of Virgo.
Each
day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe
is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional
astronomer.
A link that provides many cosmic "God Glimpses": http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
"God
is love; and it is good, as it is true, to think that every
sun-ray that touches the earth has the sun at the other end
of it; so very bit of love upon God's earth has God at the other
end of it"--Mark Guy Pearse
"The
flowers come from the same heart as man himself, and are sent
to be his companions and ministers. There is something divinely
magical, because profoundly human in them. In some at least
the human is plain; we see a face of childlike peace and confidence
that appeals to our best.....They are joyous, inarticulate children,
come with vague messages from the father of all." George MacDonald,
What's Mine's Mine
Photo: Digital Image, Cannon 10D, Jeff Day www.oldtownflorist.com
"The
truth of the flower is not the facts about it, however completely
correct they may be. Rather, the truth of the flower is the
shining, glowing, gladdening, patient thing throned on its stalk--the
compeller of smile and tear from child and prophet" (George
MacDonald)
"The
idea of God is the flower. His idea is not the botany of the
flower. Its botany is but a thing of ways and means--of canvas
and color and brush in relation to the picture in the painter's
brain. The mere intellect can never find out that which owes
its being to the heart..." (George
MacDonald)
Catawba
Rhododendron, a Wild Flower
"To
see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
An eternity in an hour." -- William Blake
*******
Willowwood
Lily
Beautiful
lily - dwelling by still river,
Or solitary mere,
Or where the sluggish meadow brook delivers
Its waters to the weir.
The wind blows, and uplifts thy dropping banner,
And around thee throng and run
The rushes, the green yeoman of thy manor -
The outlaws of the sun.
O fleur-de-luce, bloom on, and let the river
Linger to kiss thy feet;
O flower of song, bloom on, and make forever
The world more fair and sweet--
Longfellow.
"What
is the truth of water? Is it for the sake of the fact that hydrogen
and oxygen combined form water that the precious thing exists?
Or has God put the two together only that man might separate
and find them out? He allows his child to pull his toys to pieces,
but was that the purpose for which they were made? A schoolteacher
might see therein the best use of a toy, but not a father!
Find
what in the constitution of the two gases makes them fit and
capable to be thus honored in forming the lovely thing and you
will give us a revelation about more than water, namely about
the God who made oxygen and hydrogen. There is no water in oxygen,
no water in hydrogen. It comes bubbling fresh from the imagination
of the living God, rushing from under the great white throne
of the glacier...." (George MacDonald)
The Columbia Glacier in Alaska has retreated
about 8 miles over the last 18 years and is
disintegrating at an increasing rate
*******
God
Glimpses At Work...
For sometimes when I am busy among men,
With heart and brain an open thoroughfare
For faces, words, and thoughts other than mine,
And, a pause comes at length - oh, sudden then,
Back throbs the tide with rush exultant rare;
And for a gentle moment I divine
Thy dawning presence flush my tremulous air.
Often,
we may glimpse the love of God reflected in the eyes of a beloved
pet...…
George
MacDonald articulated a hope about our departed animal friends.
Referring to animals and pets, he commented, "Their
immortality is no new faith with me, but as old as my childhood."
Again, he argued for the animals when he said, "I know
of no reason why I should not look for the animals to rise again,
in the same sense in which I hope myself to rise again--which
is, to reappear, clothed with another and better form of life
than before. If the Father will raise his children, why should
he not also raise those whom he has taught his little ones to
love?" (Life Essential: The Hope of the Universe, George
MacDonald).
*******
The
Blood of Mankind--a Glimpse of God...
Red
blood cells viewed with the Scanning Electron Microscope.
"The
red blood cells are a particularly excellent piece of biological
engineering. They are biconcave in shape (like a doughnut, with
a thin section in the middle instead of a hole), and this facilitates
quick entry of oxygen and other supplies to all parts of the
cell. If red blood cells were spherical instead of biconcave
we would need about nine times as many of them to distribute
oxygen in the body with the same speed" (Scientific American)
"God
has made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell
on all the face of the earth, and has determined the times before
appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should
seek God, if haply they might feel after him, and find him,
though he be not far from every one of us: For in him
we live, and move, and have our being..."
-- St. Paul at the Greek Areopagus speaking to some local philosophers...
********
Our
own galaxy consists of about 200 billion stars, with our own
Sun being a fairly typical specimen. It is a fairly large spiral
galaxy and it has three main components: a disk, in which the
solar system resides, a central bulge at the core, and an all
encompassing halo.
Evening
Prayer
O
God, whose daylight leadeth down
Into the sunless way,
Who with restoring sleep dost crown
The labour of the day!
What
I have done, Lord, make it clean
With thy forgiveness dear;
That so today what might have been,
Tomorrow may appear.
And
when my thought is all astray,
Yet think thou on in me;
That with the newborn innocent day
My soul rise fresh and free.
Nor
let me wander all in vain
Through dreams that mock and flee;
But even in visions of the brain,
Go wandering toward thee.
George MacDonald
The
halo, which is a diffuse spherical region, surrounds the disk.
It has a low density of old stars mainly in globular clusters
(these consist of between 10,000 - 1,000,000 stars).The halo
is believed to be composed mainly of dark matter which may extend
well beyond the edge of the disk.
*******
The Rainbow
MY
heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
William
Wordsworth. 1770–1850
********
Bioengineers
Gain Understanding of Natural Silk-Producing Process
Bioengineers
at Tufts University in Massachusetts have new insights into
how spiders and silkworms can spin webs and cocoons made of
incredibly strong fibers. David Kaplan and Hyoung-Joon Jin identified
the way that spiders and silkworms control the solutbility concentration
and structure of the proteins in their glands that spin silk.
Silk proteins are organized into "pseudo-micelle"
or soaplike structures that form globular and gel states during
processing in the glands. This semi-stable state, with sufficiently
entrapped water and liquid crystalline structures, prevents
the proteins from crystallizing before the spinning process.
Premature crystallization of the proteins could cause permanent
blockage of the spinning system, leading to catastrophic consequences
for the spider or silkworm, they said. (Compiled by Richard
Hill from the current issue of the journal, Nature)
(Next,
science will have to figure out how the spiders and silkworms
figured out all of this!)
*******
Slow
Humming Galaxy
(Who Says God is in a Hurry?)
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CHANDRA "HEARS"
A SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE IN PERSEUS
A 53-hour
Chandra observation of the central region of the Perseus
galaxy cluster has revealed wavelike features that appear
to be sound waves. The features were discovered by using
a special image-processing technique to bring out subtle
changes in brightness.
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Relative
Frequency
The
sound coming from the black hole at the center of the Perseus
galaxy cluster has a pitch about 57 octaves below middle C (The
piano note has a pitch of 278 Hz. or vibrations per second.)
To put that into perspective, consider the these frequencies:
Mel
Gibson's voice: 108 vibrations per second
Lowest
audible sound for humans: 20 vibrations per
second
Lowest
audible sound for elephants: one vibration
per hour
Perseus
cluster's emission: one vibration per 10
million years
On
the net: http://www.chandra.harvard.edu/
*******
God
may be glimpsed in acts of human kindness...
*******
God
Glimpses in Creation...
(a true story)
Goose
And Swans By Charlotte Edwards
Where
we live, on the Eastern shore of Maryland, the gentle waters
run in and out like fingers slimming at the tips. They curl
into the smaller creeks and coves like tender palms. The Canada
geese know this place, as do the white swans and the ducks who
ride an inch above the waves of Chesapeake Bay as they skim
their way into harbor. In the autumn, by the thousands, they
come home for the winter. The swans move toward the shores in
a stately glide, their tall heads proud and unafraid. They lower
their long necks deep into the water, where their strong beaks
dig through the river bottoms for food. And there is, between
the arrogant swans and the prolific geese, an indifference,
almost a disdain.
Once
or twice each year, snow and sleet move into the area. When
this happens, if the river is at its narrowest, or the creek
shallow, there is a freeze which hardens the water to ice. It
was on such a morning, near Osford, Maryland, that a friend
of mine set the breakfast table beside the huge window, which
overlooked the Tred Avon River. Across the river, beyond the
dock, the snow laced the rim of the shore in white. For a moment
she stood quietly, looking at what the night's storm had painted.
Suddenly she leaned forward and peered close to the frosted
window. "It really is," she cried out loud, "there is a goose
out there." She reached to the bookcase and pulled out a pair
of binoculars. Into their sights came the figure of a large
Canada goose, very still, its wings folded tight to its sides,
its feet frozen to the ice. Then from the dark skies, she saw
a line of swans. They moved in their own singular formation,
graceful, intrepid, and free. They crossed from the west of
the broad creek high above the house, moving steadily to the
east. As my friend watched, the leader swung to the right, then
the white string of birds became a white circle. It floated
from the top of the sky downward. At last, as easy as feathers
coming to earth, the circle landed on the ice.
My
friend was on her feet now, with one unbelieving hand against
her mouth. As the swans surrounded the frozen goose, she feared
what life he still had might be pecked out by those great swan
bills. Instead, amazingly instead, those bills began to work
on the ice. The long necks were lifted and curved down, again
and again, it went on for a long time. At last, the goose was
rimmed by a narrow margin of ice instead of the entire creek.
The swans rose again, following the leader, and hovered in that
circle, awaiting the results of their labors. The goose's head
lifted. Its body pulled. Then the goose was free and standing
on the ice. He was moving his big webbed feet slowly. And the
swans stood in the air watching. Then, as if he had cried, "I
cannot fly," four of the swans came down around him. Their powerful
beaks scraped the goose's wings from top to bottom, scuttled
under its wings and rode up its body, chipping off and melting
the ice held in the feathers.
Slowly,
as if testing, the goose spread its wings as far as they would
go, brought them together, accordion-like, and spread again.
When at last the wings reached their fullest, the four swans
took off and joined the hovering group. They resumed their eastward
journey, in perfect formation, to their secret destination.
Behind them, rising with incredible speed and joy, the goose
moved into the sky. He followed them, flapping double time,
until he caught up, until he joined the last end of the line,
like a small child at the end of a crack-the-whip of older boys.
My friend watched them until they disappeared over the tips
of the farthest trees. Only then, in the dusk, which was suddenly
deep, did she realize that tears were running down her cheeks
and had been for how long she didn't know.
This
is a true story. It happened. I do not try to interpret it.
I just think of it in the bad moments, and from it comes only
one hopeful question: "If so for birds, why not for man?"
*******
God
Spilled the Paint.....
The
east side of the Carrizo plain, in the Temblor Range, about
50 miles due west of Bakersfield, California.
A Letter from a Godquest
reader...
Hi All, For me to get
to the place where I am in my relationship with and reliance
on my Higher Power, I had to go back to the simple faith from
my childhood. I have been digging into my childhood to find
and work on weaknesses and it is nice to have something good
to make vital in my recovery work today. In my opinion, a child's
faith is one that hasn't experienced the disappointment and
disillusionment of life. That kind of faith is fresh and open.
The mental picture is of someone greater who has time to listen
to bedtime prayers. Maybe of a loving grandparent who has the
time for us when it seems that our parents don't. The grandparent
who listens to our anger, hurts and confusion, and gives us
advice in a form that we can understand. Once I came to the
point that I could acknowledge that my Higher Power really cares
about me and wants to help me recover, I could again trust that
Higher Power to give me the strength to go through anything
and come out of the experience a winner. It may be different
for you, but this is the thought process that has enabled me
to have faith in a Higher Power again. Take what you can ....
Your friend and brother, Charles O.
Visit
this page often for updated God-sightings!
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