For Small Creatures Such as We

For Small Creatures Such as We: Rituals for Finding Meaning in Our Unlikely World

Written and Narrated By: Sasha Sagan

Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins

I was going for treatises on Embracing Life for those who are secular… got a lot of autobiography instead…

When Richard Dawkins sends out a mighty Huzzah! for a book, I get a knee-jerk, well dang it all: What am I in for? Anger? Animosity? Words hellbent on convincing people that there’s no place for All of Us, A Sense of Spirit plumbs the depths of stupidity?

I know I know I know. I don’t give the man a chance; but I HAVE loved all the wonder expressed by the late Carl Sagan, so I was desperately hoping that here, in Death and Life week, For Small Creature Such as We would ring the Bells of All Things Wonderful About Life… for those who choose not to Believe in Anything. I remember that after 9/11, a great many individuals decried the fact that so many remembrances involved prayer, and that made them feel alienated in their grief—Atheists Grieve Too!

I admit it; I have a proFOUNd belief system, so I get twitchy when I see Sense of the Universe shunned. This is a careful dance, as m’ husband proFOUNdly believes there’s Nothing. Okaaaay… dance dance shimmy shimmy dance. And I’m soooo going to try NOT to offend any agnostics here, any atheists, and I’ll sooo try to relay how this audiobook strikes chords.

First, dude! Written by the daughter of Carl Sagan, Sasha Sagan grew up surrounded by a sense of Wonder in the Universe, in the World around her. And she expands upon it with essays on how to make Life meaningful as she navigates her belief system with opening the world to her new daughter. Noooo, her daughter will NEVER be taught about a jolly fat man sliding down a chimney, but she will grow up with Christmas trees optional so as not to feel left out of community joy. And as Sagan grew up with Jewish grandparents (And has she mentioned that close Jewish ancestors died of starvation? She hasn’t? Well, listen closely so that you might hear it SEVeral times…), Hanukkah traditions will be offered as well for the same reason.

By the way, Sagan and her husband John chose to get married in a traditional Jewish ceremony. Soooo, you’ll find plenty here of Sagan embracing the rituals of, like, EVERYthing but also taking great pains to loudly proclaim: IT’S JUST CUZ THEY’RE NEAT. She values science over everything, but then she admits that science is always changing; she never calls that unreliable but it’s to be accepted as the basis for a sound and wondrous life here on this planet. Now see? I find that a tad off-putting as it seems a poor way to balance on constantly shifting sand, and worshipping the sand in the bargain. Cuz her embrace of science comes pretty danged close to worshipping the tools that make her church (Small “c”).

Okay, that’s where I’ll end my: Dude! she’s worshipping something, but it just ain’t organized Religion (I don’t like organized Religion m’self as it’s too small a box for what I feel and try to live). Now let’s get onto the fact that this is soooo heavy on personal autobiography. I get it: Personal thoughts and musings are based upon personal experiences. -But- do I really need to hear about how she and her husband were Friends, then fell into Friends with Benefits one steamy, shag-laden night? How she wore really short-shorts to entice him but that the cab ride was awfully quiet?

How is that embracing wonder of the universe? I mean, Goody for Her, but should not an editor have pointed out that, Charming, but how does that fit in with Making Meaning Within Our Lives?

Add to that that danged near every. single. ritual she suggests to craft meaning is swiped from organized religions. Add to that her disgust when people use the word “Miracle”. as there are no such things; they’re coincidences. Then she goes on to wax poetic about the Miracles of Nature and the Universe. Seriously, get it together, find a story, stick to it.

If you’re secular, you’re just going to find More of the Same Old Religious Stuff only given new names.

I get it; I’m not the best audience to judge. I don’t find it offensive that Saturnalia became Christmas. But I do get twitchy when someone uses that fact to show just how appalling it was for religion at the time to morph it for convenience and then goes on to morph it one step further just for their own personal convenient reasons. Social history given by Sagan? Yes, very much so. Co-opting by Sagan just as much? Oh yeh, very much so.

You’re not into religion, and you think there’s nothing after this Life. No problem, and more power to you. Here’s what Sagan does NOT say: Look at the glory of a flower, and be within yourself as you truly breathe deeply of its fragrance. Count the number of fingers and toes flexing on a newborn, or as they’re motionless as you sit with the newly-dead (Think of just how AWESOME it is to have Birth, Death…)

And Life in Between…

Live with your Senses, Love with your Whole Heart, Feel such Gratitude.

Feel the grass beneath your toes on a summer’s day; lick an icicle and hope your tongue doesn’t stick.

Laugh Laugh Laugh

Ancestors may’ve starved to death, but you? Enjoy your family, break bread with your friends.

It all ends pretty danged soon…