"My view is that if your philosophy is not unsettled daily then you are blind to all the universe has to offer."
- Neil deGrasse Tyson
The universe is so incredible, so overwhelming, so awe-inspiring, and just plain enormous beyond imagination - and considering how much we still have to learn about the universe - that if our view of the world isn't challenged or shaken up every day by an incredible sense of wonder, curiosity and astonishment, then we've not merely closed our eyes to the phenomenon of the universe: we've closed our minds as well.
For me, truth-seeking is a pilgrimage, a journey to the only place that could rightly be called "holy": a proper understanding of reality. This is the one trip where the destination is reached multiple times along the way. The history of science is one of ever-increasing understanding: old ideas are replaced by better ideas, which are eventually replaced by even better ideas. Science is continually refining and expanding our knowledge of the universe, and as it does, it leads to new questions for future investigation. Science will never be "finished." This pilgrimage has no Mecca, no final destination.
Science is the embodiment of humanity's endeavor to establish truth, to question everything, and to contribute to mankind an explanation and understanding of reality arrived at through constant, unbiased, open and transparent experimentation and discovery in which falsifiability and replicability are highly valued and relied upon. Science is the child of western philosophy, and as such the child bears resemblance to the parent insofar as both thrive on a sense of wonder.
Long ago people looked up at the stars and began questioning what they saw. Many were satisfied - and all too easily satisfied - by fantasies that quelled their fears, massaged their egos and catered to their selfish desires. But a noble few through human history have not been satisfied with such easy answers. They want more. They want truth. Their wonder and curiosity can only be sated by acquiring true knowledge.
"[Science is] an imaginative adventure of the mind seeking truth in a world of mystery."
- Sir Cyril Herman Hinshelwood
