Reflections on a Mote of Dust

I wrot ethis electronic piece after reading Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan. He writes on one specific photograph taken from deep space, and coins our earth a "mote of dust" in the cosmic landscape. This piece was inspired by use of imagery in the sound design, as well as Carl Sagan's musings in Pale Blue Dot. I imagine the primary theme as particles of dust, in perpetual motion in a shaft of light. The context of these "motes" is expressed as the piece develops into increasing complexity. The mote is always there, omnipresent yet insignificant in the cloud of actvity around it. I hope you all enjoy it

"The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam. "

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posted by 5imian (2 comments total)

This is quite beautiful. I like the title, and then to find out it was inspired by dear old Carl Sagan adds another dimension. This one's a keeper.
posted by AppleSeed at 5:02 AM on January 31, 2009

Thank you very much for your kind words.

This is my girlfriends favorite piece I have written, actually. I am so glad someone else gleaned something valuable from it. Carl Sagan is one of my heroes, and reminiscing about Pale Blue Dot gives me a very specific emotional feeling that i hope i captured in this piece.
posted by 5imian at 12:12 PM on January 31, 2009