It's sort of a a blue pill/red pill situation.

While introducing the Copernican revolution, Crow comments that, "[Copernicus'  new theories] transformed the Earth into a planet, humans into planetarians, and stars in to suns, thereby 'infinitizing' the universe" (Crowe, 83). He than comments, "It raised deep and disturbing philosophical questions and theological issues" (83). During out visit to the planetarium on Friday, I was shocked by the reality of just how insignificant the Earth is as a planetary body in the scope of the entire universe. We are one of billions of planets in one of millions of galaxies. It is almost incomprehensible. My response to it lay somewhere between horror and awe.

As humans, we function on a day to day basis. We take exams, pay taxes, socialize, ect. Maybe some of us look at a bigger picture and make choices based on where we want to be in a year, five years, or twenty years. The things we do everyday are important to us. The goals we set for ourselves really matter to us! We are generally disappointed when we fail or fall short of our potential, or when others fail us. But if you look at our day to day lives, or our five year plans, in relation to the age and breadth of the universe, our lives seem somewhat trivial, and our actions seem trivial and our goals, which we work for in our lifetimes, look ridiculous. Why should we strive to be successful when, in the eyes of the universe, we are insignificant?

 I 100% understand why Copernicus' contemporaries struggled to except his new theories. The old theories were organized, logical and comfortable. Copernicus' new ideas were frightening.  

PS - for those who hate movies, the title of this posts references a scene in 'The Matrix'. I'm a nerd. What can I say?