In this book " Pale Blue Dot " by Carl Sagan what I found most touching was how the dying world famous scientist came to grips with his own mortality

 

[In Sagan's New York Times obituary, then-President of the National Academy of Sciences Bruce Alberts said, "Carl Sagan, more than any contemporary scientist I can think of, knew what it takes to stir passion within the public when it comes to the wonder and importance of science." ]

In this book by Carl Sagan what I found most touching was how the dying world famous scientist came to grips with his own mortality surrounded by a loving wife and family and BEAUTIFUL LIFE which he most surely did not want to leave. A cynic might call it post mortem public image protection but Sagan refused any traditional religious consolation aware that kind people were still praying for him. I suspect that Sagan ,like the absurd hero Meursault in the Albert Camus novel " The Stranger " , simply resigned himself to the " benign indifference of the universe ". I wonder what were famous horror writer H.P. Lovecraft 's reflections on his death bed : did he resign himself to blessed oblivion , an exhausted farewell to infinite " COSMIC HORROR " ? Atheist philosopher Bertrand Russell imagined himself " looking into the pit of hell and not being afraid " ? His own daughter suspected that her philosopher father hid his religious feelings . As H.P. Lovecraft knew there is always in the human soul FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN . FEAR of being forever " The Outsider " . Lovecraft too professed being an incorrigible materialist. Yet diabolical visions of ARCH-FIEND types never left his consciousness.

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Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot

Pale Blue Dot