Q&A
What is wrong with the word "cosmos"?
My generation associates "cosmos" with Carol Sagan and Star Trek. It implies this vast vast universe with billions and billions of stars of which our sun is only one of them. It implies that God chose this solar system for man. And that our solar system is revolving around the center of the universe, which is so far away it has not been discovered yet, and may even be some kind of a black hole.
This implication leads away from the truth that the earth was created first, before the sun, before the other stars. Earth is the center of all the universe. Whatever swirls around us out in space, guided by whatever natural laws, is secondary.
It is difficult enough for us to grasp the truth of earth-centerness. Using the word "cosmos" reinforces the barrier we have in seeing our earth as the center instead of just a speck revolving around a sun in a universe.
Somehow, Carol Sagan, made this idea of how small we are into a humbling religious experience. [Marijuana smoking can do the same thing.]
We can maybe start to undo some of the subtle damage that is done to us by the modern world by using, as much as possible, the same vocabulary as our Holy Church Fathers. The Church Fathers don't use the word "cosmos" – they say "creation" or "world".
We can maybe start to undo some of the subtle damage that is done to us by the modern world by using, as much as possible, the same vocabulary as our Holy Church Fathers. The Church Fathers don't use the word "cosmos" – they say "creation" or "world".
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