I had the interesting opportunity of hearing Bill Nye speak at my school. The science icon of our youth received roaring applause as he walked on stage. He could barely get a word out without being blown away with a tidal wave of affectionate cacophony.
He’s a smart guy! A mechanical engineering major from Cornell and former employee of Boeing, Bill was definitely qualified to teach adolescents about science. After his career with the famous series of “Bill Nye the Science Guy”, Bill took off on a duel campaign for sustainability (minimizing our carbon footprint and slowing down global warming) and space exploration. Both are somewhat interconnected he believes.
In fact, his presentation basically meshed space exploration and environmentalism together. He started by showing some incredible pictures of planets from our solar system and from other parts of the universe. Light was a major theme of his. He pointed out that the same light that brings life to our planet lights up the pictures of the Marsian landscape and the majestic rings of Saturn. I thought that was a cool thought. Many gospel parallels you can draw from that.
Then he took off on a mind-boggling treatise of outer space. He spoke of how our sun was just an average size specimen. He talked about how our planet’s solar system is one of billions in our galaxy and how our galaxy is one of billions (maybe trillions) in the universe. Further, he said the universe is growing. He said the universe is even growing at an ever-increasing rate. How can your mind wrap around that? He then mentioned that his teacher taught him that there are literally more stars in the heavens than sand of the seashores around the world. Of course the prophets have taught us this unfathomable truth since the beginning of the world (Gen. 22:17).
All of this rhetoric came to a clear head as he brought us back down to earth. With the audiences riveted to his message, he directed us to a picture on the screen. Saturn was the foreground and a small speck, earth, was somewhere in the background. He then observed that “everything and everyone who has ever lived or ever would live is contained on that little dot.” Then the climax: he almost yelled, “I am nothing!”
What poignant words. It was actually a really spiritual experience for me to hear that coming from this man. My mind went directly to the first chapter of Moses. We learn that when Moses was able to see simply all of God’s creations of this earth, Moses commented “Now for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed” (Moses 1:10). Just imagine if we could see all of God’s handiwork. Yet, “no man can behold all my works, except he behold all my glory; and no man can behold all my glory, and afterwards remain in the flesh” (Moses 1:5).
“To be learned is good if [we] hearken unto the counsels of God” (2 Nephi 9:29). Some of the greatest people I know are very well informed with impressive diplomas. But, “O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish” (2 Nephi 9:28).
My three takeaways from all of this: (1) to be learned and informed and exposed to differing views is good if we hearken to the counsels of God, (2) honest seekers of truth naturally pluck pieces of the mosaic of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and (3) boy am I so grateful to know the source of all truth and not have to search tirelessly for truth in the confusing-at-best world of moral relativism.
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