The Most Love You Will Get This Valentine’s Day is THIS
The Pale Blue Dot video by Carl Sagan contains all the love in the world
Very Unpopular Strong Opinions Blog by Christyl Rivers
Christyl Rivers is an evangelical ecopsychologist
I will never shut up about Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot, photos, video, and voice-over. I don’t care whether you believe in God. Or whether you think humans are somehow “above” other beings, or worlds — galaxies — in the creation.
Whatever your truth, this message is for you, and it’s not so atheistic as you may think, nor is only for elite, science nerds.
If you have not yet seen it, you must go see Pale Blue Dot, now.
The “dot” photo, taken on Valentine’s Day 1990 by Voyager I, was our first view of ourselves as something so small, and at the same time so huge, that your heart will skip a beat.
All our hearts are here. Still. On Earth. Beating. Full of passion, sometimes rage, sometimes deep grief. There is a pandemic. A chance of World War, the climate crisis. Putin’s heart is lusting for Ukraine. Muslims and Hindus in India are aching for belonging. Anti-Vax and anti-mask hearts are drumming for control of their liberty, as are the hearts of their opponents.
Chinese hearts, Australian hearts, and hearts in the Americas, worry about human rights — rain forests extinctions of minority cultures, Koalas, and the Vaquita. So many more.
Do you think you are of greater value than a Vaquita? I don’t think so when it is eight billion to ten…
We’re more than just people
Hearts of a billion trees beat at a pace that adds one ring a year, will they flood out, burn, or be logged? Species that circulate blood — through oxygen — to breathe want to know. The heart of the ocean is pulled by the moon, and every organism within depends upon the hearts of one another to keep on beating.
We human beings are small — one type on a mote of dust suspended in a sun beam. But we are huge, because we make ourselves so with the enormous sound of our thundering hearts. Our sense of self-importance makes us so dominant that we have almost used up this planet, and yet, think ourselves audacious enough to seek out other worlds.
The Jay Dub, JWST, launched Christmas day tells us we can nurture hearts and minds to cooperate, innovate, create, and appreciate.
We are also so big that we have surged our hearts in wrong directions for conquest and domination; to flow “rivers of blood” in Dr. Sagan’s words.
True love breaks, and makes, your heart
Let’s choose love this Valentine’s Day. You were loved into being by life, and although life itself is neutral — favoring no child (organism, or even world) over another with bias — we can count on nature’ laws to be true.
True love is nothing to ignore.
Nature, and even our planet, is reliable, and tells the truth. Our human consciousness, the knowing “self” of our planet does not always tell the truth. Therefore, it is up to us to follow truth, face truth, however painful. Learn from the heartbreaks of our past, racism, sexism, extinction, despoliation of our world.
Please realize there is no family but us, a pale blue dot surging around one star like a human blood cell that circulates through the body delivering oxygen and immune defense. That is, we’re like red and white cells, much like the valentines we used to make before everything went painfully digital and commercial.
Add then, to the daily reminder of our fragile blue dot, that we are red and white. All our blood is similar, we are family.
The most love you can ever hope for in this world is your belonging.
Long for your belonging. Find your belonging.
Here is your heart’s highest love.