I just found out that there is an entire group of people out there in the 21st Century who truly believe that the Earth is flat.
I mean, we all knew that was the theory once upon a time, and observation seems to indicate that the Earth is flat... I seem to live on what's more or less a plane and other than hills and mountains, the "flat" nature of my plane doesn't seem to change. When I drive across country or fly over the ocean, I don't see any big circles or spheres. It all seems linear to me.
People who believe that the Earth is flat are basing their beliefs only on what they can see and experience. They use a scientific method called The Zetetic Method, which relies heavily on sensory observations and draws conclusions on experiments based on the experiment itself instead of designing an experiment to prove a theory or hypothesis as the Scientific Method does.
Of course, modern science seems to have disproven the planar view of the world. We are able to observe the changing of day and night, which is really easily explained by the rotation of the spherical Earth in twenty-four hour increments as it moves in its orbit around the sun. Astronauts have been into space countless times, reporting that the Earth is a sphere, and anyone with internet access has seen the pictures of the Earth taken by satellites.
Modern "Flat-Earthers" believe that the entirety of the evidence of a spherical Earth is a vast government conspiracy. Most "scientists" would decry these beliefs as ridiculous.
Though I believe that the Earth is spherical, my purpose in this post is not to judge or condemn those who believe the Earth is flat. I'm making a point.
For all intents and purposes, the Earth is flat. Our experience of the Earth--unless we become astronauts--will likely only ever be that it is flat. The fact is, we don't fall off of the globe and we travel in what seems like a line to get from point A to point B. Looking at the horizon, I see a straight line! There are plenty of explanations purported by the "Flat-Earthers" to explain why we have night and day, but in the end, we do have night and day whether we believe in a round Earth or a flat Earth. It doesn't actually matter to our everyday lives that the Earth is not flat.
Except that to believe that the Earth is flat changes everything about the way we view the world, the solar system, and space. People who believe the Earth is flat believe that all of the celestial bodies like the sun and moon and stars exist on different planes. I'm not sure they even think we can go to space. They certainly don't believe that NASA has done it.
How we view the world changes how we interact with the world. If we believe that the Earth is flat, we will limit our experience of the Earth to flat. We will never aspire to the stars. Some people may fear to travel around the world at all. As a teacher, I really never plan to be an astronaut (I'm going to travel to the stars in other ways ;) ), but I might quash a student's dream of flying to the moon if I were to believe the Earth is flat. Celebrities are apparently already teaching children that the round Earth is a conspiracy.
Though I can see and completely understand why some people believe the Earth is flat, and though the flat Earth might be part of my experience of Earth (again, I walk in a line to get from point A to point B), saying that the Earth is only flat will limit me and in turn cause me to limit others. The flat-Earth experience is only one of many ways to interact with the Earth.
But what if I believe the Earth is round? We can fly to the moon and send satellites to Mars! We can see the stars from telescopes that orbit the Earth! This takes nothing away from our experience of a flat Earth. (I'm still walking from point A to point B in a line.) We have not lost anything by believing that the Earth is round.
Now I can have both! I can have a flat-Earth experience of moving from point to point and not falling off of the world that does not contradict my expanded spherical-Earth horizon! Gravity keeps me walking in a seemingly straight line, and yet the Earth does turn on its axis as it orbits the sun. It's so much more than what is thought when the Earth is merely flat.
Now what if I were to tell you that there's more to Earth than merely a sphere? What would you do then? What if there's more to our experiences than we've known so far? Are we willing to let go and expand our horizons, or will we cling to the idea that the Earth is flat because that's all we've heretofore known?
To quote a famous poet, "There are more things on Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." We must be constantly willing to expand our horizons, not to lose all that we believe when we give it up, but to grow.
"He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses hislife for My sake will find it." ~Matthew 10:39
I mean, we all knew that was the theory once upon a time, and observation seems to indicate that the Earth is flat... I seem to live on what's more or less a plane and other than hills and mountains, the "flat" nature of my plane doesn't seem to change. When I drive across country or fly over the ocean, I don't see any big circles or spheres. It all seems linear to me.
People who believe that the Earth is flat are basing their beliefs only on what they can see and experience. They use a scientific method called The Zetetic Method, which relies heavily on sensory observations and draws conclusions on experiments based on the experiment itself instead of designing an experiment to prove a theory or hypothesis as the Scientific Method does.
Of course, modern science seems to have disproven the planar view of the world. We are able to observe the changing of day and night, which is really easily explained by the rotation of the spherical Earth in twenty-four hour increments as it moves in its orbit around the sun. Astronauts have been into space countless times, reporting that the Earth is a sphere, and anyone with internet access has seen the pictures of the Earth taken by satellites.
Modern "Flat-Earthers" believe that the entirety of the evidence of a spherical Earth is a vast government conspiracy. Most "scientists" would decry these beliefs as ridiculous.
Though I believe that the Earth is spherical, my purpose in this post is not to judge or condemn those who believe the Earth is flat. I'm making a point.
For all intents and purposes, the Earth is flat. Our experience of the Earth--unless we become astronauts--will likely only ever be that it is flat. The fact is, we don't fall off of the globe and we travel in what seems like a line to get from point A to point B. Looking at the horizon, I see a straight line! There are plenty of explanations purported by the "Flat-Earthers" to explain why we have night and day, but in the end, we do have night and day whether we believe in a round Earth or a flat Earth. It doesn't actually matter to our everyday lives that the Earth is not flat.
Except that to believe that the Earth is flat changes everything about the way we view the world, the solar system, and space. People who believe the Earth is flat believe that all of the celestial bodies like the sun and moon and stars exist on different planes. I'm not sure they even think we can go to space. They certainly don't believe that NASA has done it.
How we view the world changes how we interact with the world. If we believe that the Earth is flat, we will limit our experience of the Earth to flat. We will never aspire to the stars. Some people may fear to travel around the world at all. As a teacher, I really never plan to be an astronaut (I'm going to travel to the stars in other ways ;) ), but I might quash a student's dream of flying to the moon if I were to believe the Earth is flat. Celebrities are apparently already teaching children that the round Earth is a conspiracy.
Though I can see and completely understand why some people believe the Earth is flat, and though the flat Earth might be part of my experience of Earth (again, I walk in a line to get from point A to point B), saying that the Earth is only flat will limit me and in turn cause me to limit others. The flat-Earth experience is only one of many ways to interact with the Earth.
But what if I believe the Earth is round? We can fly to the moon and send satellites to Mars! We can see the stars from telescopes that orbit the Earth! This takes nothing away from our experience of a flat Earth. (I'm still walking from point A to point B in a line.) We have not lost anything by believing that the Earth is round.
Now I can have both! I can have a flat-Earth experience of moving from point to point and not falling off of the world that does not contradict my expanded spherical-Earth horizon! Gravity keeps me walking in a seemingly straight line, and yet the Earth does turn on its axis as it orbits the sun. It's so much more than what is thought when the Earth is merely flat.
Now what if I were to tell you that there's more to Earth than merely a sphere? What would you do then? What if there's more to our experiences than we've known so far? Are we willing to let go and expand our horizons, or will we cling to the idea that the Earth is flat because that's all we've heretofore known?
To quote a famous poet, "There are more things on Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." We must be constantly willing to expand our horizons, not to lose all that we believe when we give it up, but to grow.
"He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses hislife for My sake will find it." ~Matthew 10:39
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