Next time you're stunned by a large moon on the horizon, bend over and view it between your legs. The effect goes away entirely.
Interpretation
This quote humorously suggests a different perspective on a common sight to show how perception can change experience.
Neil Degrasse Tyson's quote encourages us to approach the beauty of nature, particularly the sight of a large moon on the horizon, with a playful and unconventional attitude. By bending over to view the moon between our legs, we shift our perspective, which not only alters our visual experience but also serves as a metaphor for how our viewpoints can dramatically change our perceptions of reality and beauty.
In practice
During an astronomy workshop to lighten the mood.
The problem is that many people operate on the assumption that NASA should go to Congress every year with hat in hand and justify it every year. Well, I see it as the greatest economic driver that there ever was. Economic drivers don't need justification.
The press still thinks [global warming] is controversial. So they find the 1% of the scientists and put them up as if they're 50% of the research results. You in the public would have no idea that this is basically a done deal and that we're on to other problems, because the journalists are trying to give it a 50/50 story. It's not a 50/50 story. It's not. Period.
As a scientist, I want to go to Mars and back to asteroids and the Moon because I'm a scientist. But I can tell you, I'm not so naive a scientist to think that the nation might not have geopolitical reasons for going into space.
In just one year, the expenditure of of the U.S.'s military budget is equivalent to the entire 50-year running budget of NASA combined.
One of my great laments is that education today seems to have... be less about passion and more about process, more about tactic or technique.
Lots of people think, well, we're humans; we're the most intelligent and accomplished species; we're in charge. Bacteria may have a different outlook: more bacteria live and work in one linear centimeter of your lower colon than all the humans who have ever lived. That's what's going on in your digestive tract right now. Are we in charge, or are we simply hosts for bacteria? It all depends on your outlook.
I don’t know, I don’t feel right unless I’ve got the sea and mountains nearby. People are mostly a product of where they were born and raised. How you think and feel’s always linked to the lay of the land, the temperature. The prevailing winds, even.
Nature yields her most profound secrets to the person who is determined to uncover them.
It is a real wilderness, and those who go there should not feel too safe.
Celebrate Earth Day every day.
I see the entire world as Eden, and every time you take an inch of it away, you must do so with respect.
The thing that's made me open my eyes to what was happening to the environment and climate was films and documentaries.
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