This episode of INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE with Sasha Sagan is perfect for Mother’s Day. Sasha, the daughter of Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan, reconnected with the lessons of her parents once she became a mother herself. Her debut book, “For Small Creatures Such As We,” blends memoir with historical research while also providing a map for us all to incorporate rituals into our lives and families.
We began by discussing the book title itself and she revealed that a lot of work went into the subtitle, “Rituals for Finding Meaning in Our Unlikely World,” which actually varies for publication in other countries. The main title is a partial quote from Carl Sagan’s only work of fiction, the seminal “Contact,” but Sasha revealed that her mother actually wrote the line: “For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love.”
Speaking with Sasha reminded me that in my recent interview with Mario Livio, we talked about the book “Galileo’s Daughter” by Dava Sobel. Reading the writings of these daughters of scientific giants is an immense privilege. My recent discussion with author Sarah Scoles also seems remarkably connected, as she wrote “Making Contact,” a biography of Dr. Jill Tarter, who provided inspiration for the main character in “Contact.”
A common theme of the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE podcast is the intersection of science and religion, and Sasha is full of insight. Her research into how many rituals are inextricably tied to natural events reinvigorates the wonder rather than quashing it.
“The thing about relying on science as your worldview is that it’s missing cuisine and expressions and holidays,” she says. “I love to mark time and I find it very soothing. That’s something ritual provides and allows us to process change.”
The idea of combining the wonder that comes from science with the community that comes from religion shouldn’t seem revolutionary, it is in fact the way it has always been. But that seems to have been lost over the centuries. The fact that rituals don’t require faith to be meaningful reminds me of a quote from Aristotle, “You are what you repeatedly do.”
The rest of this quote, “Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit,” also resonates with me. Could rituals as Sasha describes them be stronger than habits or willpower?
As with every discussion these days, COVID-19 crept into ours. When Sasha wrote that we should celebrate uncertainty in her debut book published in October 2019, she had no idea how prophetic that would be. Now, with her book tour essentially cancelled, she has a related lesson to share — to be grateful for the people you love. Rituals and holidays are as important as ever in these times of self-isolation.
I thank Sasha for her enthusiasm and candor during our interview. She is also a wonderful storyteller, as evidenced by the tale she told of her grandfather (Carl Sagan’s father). He came home from university and struggled to break the news to his parents that he would no longer be practicing their Jewish traditions. His father’s response, that the only sin would be doing it without belief, is at the core of Sasha’s book. We must all find what works for us from the teachings of our families and communities, while also allowing those we love to do the same.
Full text of the poems Sasha and I discussed:
When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer
By Walt Whitman
When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.
Richard Feynman said:
“Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars — mere globs of gas atoms. I too can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more? The vastness of the heavens stretches my imagination — stuck on this carousel my little eye can catch one — million — year — old light. A vast pattern — of which I am a part… What is the pattern, or the meaning, or the why? It does not do harm to the mystery to know a little about it. For far more marvelous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined it. Why do the poets of the present not speak of it? What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?”
The 19 “generations” of academia that I mention in the episode is shown here:
Some resources and links:
Buy Sasha Sagan’s book here: https://amzn.to/3dnYfa8
Listen to Sagan’s interview on The Powerful Ladies podcast.
Find Sasha Sagan on the web: https://www.sashasagan.com and Twitter: @SashaSagan
Find Brian Keating on Twitter @DrBrianKeating and YouTube
Please subscribe, rate, and review the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast on iTunes for a chance to win a copy of Sagan’s book: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-impossible/id1169885840?mt=2
Sasha Sagan studied literature at NYU and has worked as a producer, filmmaker, and editor. Her essays, many about the lessons she learned from her parents, have been published in literary magazines.
