Excerpts: “The most enduring thing about being human is the discovery of cosmic truths that transcend culture, politics, religion, and time, forming the corpus of knowledge and wisdom that we call civilization” (p. 60-61).

“One can participate without judging whether the events that established the ritual have any literal truth at all. The participation creates a sense of community, which has almost always contributed value to civilization. It disrupts civilization only when people require that others share their particular rituals, with threat of force to achieve it” (p. 216).

Tyson, Neil DeGrasse (2019). Letters From An Astrophysicist. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.