The Sirius Mystery by Robert K.G. Temple

And the numbers of people in insane asylums or living at home doped on tranquilizers testifies to our aimless, drifting metaphysic. But in anĪlmost totally secular and artificial world, orientation is thought to be un- necessary. For theirs are all integral functions involving the fundamental principle - now all but forgotten - of orientation. Farmers relate to the skies, as well as sailors, camel caravans,Īnd aerial navigators. He inhabits a world which is more and more his own fantasy. It is only the integral part of the landscape which can relate to the stars.

To such a level has our technological mania, like a bacterial solution in which we have been stewed from birth, reduced us. We are interested in the satellite because we made it, but the stars are alien and untouched by human hands - therefore vapid. The ancient mythological figures sketched in the sky were taught us as children to be quaint 'shepherds' fantasies' unworthy of the attention of adult minds. And as for the space programme's impact on our view of the sky, many people will attentively follow the motions of a visible satellite against a backdrop of stars whose positions are absolutely meaningless to them.

The rise in interest in astrology today does not result in much actual star-gazing. But that is as far as it goes, except for the poets. We look at them, our heads flung back in awe and wonder that they can exist They simply have no place in our outlook any more. For even if we leave the sulphurous vapours of our Gomorrahs to venture into a natural landscape, the stars do not enter into any of our back-to-nature schemes. The stars only because most of us can no longer see them. He had no inkling, for instance, that the Little Bear could serve as a reliable night clock as it revolves in tight circles around the Pole Star (and acts as a celestial hour-hand at half speed - that is, it takes 24 hours rather than 12 for a single revolution). And he is no prisoner of smog-bound cities. When I discussed the stars with a well-known naturalist, I was surprised to learn that even a man such as he, who has spent his entire lifetime observing wildlife and nature, was totally unaware of the movements of the stars. This is not entirelyĭue to our living in cities ablaze with electric lights which reflect back at us from our fumes, smoke, and artificial haze. “We tend to be unaware that stars rise and set at all.

The Sirius Mystery by Robert K.G. Temple