Reading Group Guide
Discussion Questions 1.
Do you consider yourself religious or were you raised with a faith background? Did earlier religion? How has this background shaped
differently after reading this book?
Did you grow up with any rituals or traditions that your parents created specifically for you? Or do you have any that you’ve created
9. 10.
in adulthood?
In Chapter 8, “Independence Days,” Sagan writes about how we learn history. What did you learn in school that you now see as inaccurate or biased? How changed with time?
11.
Sagan writes about looking things up as kind of ritual. Is that something you do or intend to do? Have you
Are there traditions you love despite not nec-
ever learned something from Google or other research
essarily believing in the underlying theology?
that changed the way you saw the world?
to reflect your own philosophy?
12.
Sagan writes about how she struggled after the loss of her father. Have you lost someone you loved? Did you
Do you believe science and spirituality are
hold a memorial of some kind? When you’ve experi-
compatible? Can you feel as connected to
enced grief, what rituals have helped you the most?
the universe or to one another through facts instead of faith? Why or why not?
7.
strong sense of faith more than exploring doubts?
has your perspective of American or world history
Are there ways you have or could alter them
6.
questioning more than having faith? Or having a
have a favorite in your own life? Did you Such as We?
5.
How important is testing your beliefs? Do you value
What makes a ritual work for you? Do you have a favorite ritual in For Small Creatures
4.
of the seasons) play in your personal philosophy or theology? Is there a phenomenon you will approach
Sasha Sagan’s perspective on secularism?
3.
What part do natural phenomena (like the changing
generations of your family follow a different your day-to-day life? Were you surprised by
2.
8.
13.
On p. 120, Sagan writes, “If we humans manage not to destroy our planet completely, this air, our air, might
Sagan writes about how her father’s research
be breathed by creatures not yet evolved. New beings
and beliefs shaped the way she sees the
we can’t even imagine yet. We are, after all, someone’s
world. Is there someone in your family from
distant future and someone else’s ancient past.” How
whom you’ve learned your beliefs? Are there
does this sentiment make you feel? Do you feel con-
family members with whom you disagree?
nected to the generations of humans that came before
Do you think there’s a way to share the im-
us? What does our role in the long chain of evolution
portance of a ritual, even if you understand
mean to you? Do you intend to celebrate that differ-
its meaning in different ways?
ently after reading this book?
Do you have children? If so, do you plan to raise them with a specific set of rituals or beliefs? Why or why not? Do you feel differently about this after reading For Small Creatures Such as We?
14.
Are there new traditions or rituals you now feel inspired to try? Is there an event in your life you’d like to find a ritual to celebrate?
© brian c. seitz
A Conversation with Sasha Sagan You’ve described For Small Creatures Such as We as a road map. Who is it for and where does the map lead them? Well, my hope is that it’s for just about everyone, but while I was writing, it I had two specific ideas of readers in mind: the first was someone who describes themselves as “not religious but spiritual” and longs to feel a real connection with the universe and the Earth, one that’s supported by evidence and yet is still deeply stirring in that way that magical things can be. I hope this book can help lead to a place where the universe as revealed by science can be celebrated as a source of beauty, not just information and technology. The second reader I had in mind was the parent of a young child, like myself. There’s something about explaining why and how we do things and why things are
with their families. It’s not easy figuring out how to balance the weight of convention with new philosophies and skepticism. I hope this book helps unshackle us from some of the obligations we feel to just go through the motions, and instead encourages us to find ways to honor some of the astonishing, provable miracles that we so often take for granted.
You grew up in a secular Jewish household with parents whose science- and fact-based philosophies informed and shaped family life. Yet it seems we are living at a time in history where one’s unverified beliefs often outweigh demonstrable truths. How do we get back on track in an era of alternative facts?
they way they are to a curious kid that forces us to ex-
Oh, this is a big question and an extremely important
amine what we actually believe. Atheists, agnostics, and
one. Besides astronomy, my dad taught undergraduate
other secular people, as well as believers who wrestle
courses in critical thinking. He felt very strongly that
with some nagging doubt or maybe with specific ele-
critical thinking was crucial to a functioning democracy.
ments of their traditions, have to navigate this, deter-
The better our school systems are, the more we pay
mining how to celebrate holidays and rites of passage
our teachers, and the more we encourage children to
the Earth orbits the sun. Likewise, around the world and throughout the eons, we’ve invented traditions to mark birth, puberty, reproduction, and death, which are the ask questions—even really hard questions, even really
biological processes of being human.
taboo questions—the better our chances are of changing
In a way, I think it’s really science we’ve been celebrat-
course before we fall into another Dark Age.
ing all along.
I think politely avoiding difficult conversations, for ex-
In this book you write candidly about your relationship with your father, Carl Sagan, and about your grieving process after his death. What was it like to write about such a personal experience?
ample, about politics, history, religion, or race, doesn’t do us any favors. We have to learn to test our preconceptions and let those that cannot stand up to scrutiny fall away. It’s hard. I find it hard myself. But a huge part of our problem is that we value being right too much and learning too little. It takes a much more secure person to say, “Oh wow, that’s a good point. You’ve changed my mind” than to say, “I’m sticking to my guns no matter what you say.”
The best word I can use to describe writing about grieving is “relief.” In a society where we are constantly breaking down taboos, death is still among the most awkward subjects. For a long time, I felt talking openly
My parents taught me that what is so powerful about
about my sense of grief would only serve to make other
the scientific method is that it’s a tool for testing what
people uncomfortable and that glossing over pain was
we believe. It’s not perfect, and scientists are human
more polite. I still wrestle with this sometimes, espe-
like everyone else, but the goal is to get closer to under-
cially when I meet a new person. I loved my dad. I still
standing reality, not to preserve belief in what we wish
love him even though he’s gone. He was great and I was
to be true. I think embracing that philosophy beyond
lucky to be his daughter. Those sentiments are much
the laboratory would make a massive difference in the
easier to talk about. But for me saying openly, “Death is
American discourse.
sad, it’s part of life and it has to be, but it’s still hard,” is
Why have you looked to the rituals of religions in order to find meaning in a secular life? For most of human history, science and religion were
somehow freeing.
What guiding principles did your parents instill in you that have been most helpful as an adult?
not at war. They were both part of the same pursuit. The
There are so many, but one that stands out in the con-
more deeply we understood nature, the more deeply we
text of adulthood is that even though life is finite—and
understood our gods. Many of our most ancient rituals
in a deep way because it’s finite, because we don’t live
still reflect that world. The lighting of a candle, planting
forever—being alive is a profoundly lucky, special thing.
of a tree, or even decorating of an egg don’t require any
Adulthood forces us to face our mortality. And it can be
faith to be meaningful. There is so much poetic sym-
terrifying. My parents taught me that we may be tiny
bolism in religious and cultural rituals that I can’t help
beings on an out-of-the-way rock, we may only live for
but connect with them, perhaps in part because they
the blink of an eye on the time scale of the universe, but
call back to an earlier philosophy rooted in the natural
we’re here, right now. And that, in and of itself, is cause
changes that take place on Earth.
for celebration.
I write a lot about the idea that many of our celebra-
The other is the idea that reality is more stunning and
tions and rites of passage are predicated on scientific
profound than fiction. Growing up there was a framed
phenomena. Beneath the specifics of our beliefs, sacred
postcard on the wall in our house that my parents had
texts, and dogmas, our traditions are often centered on
bought at an auction. It read something like, “Dear friend,
things like the changing of the seasons, the harvest, and
for me the whole of philosophy is summed up as truth
the long winter nights. Those are by-products of how
at any cost. Warmly yours, M. Gandhi.” Even though
Mahatma Gandhi was a deeply religious man, this line
are, and how we got here, for millennia. Science has
perfectly represented the scientific values my parents
revealed awe-inspiring majesty beyond our species’
instilled in me. I still think about that postcard often.
wildest dreams, but it doesn’t often get presented that
When someone feels hopeless about the state of the world—the inequity, the unfairness, and the harshness of it— how might this book help to push back against despair? I do not believe that everything happens for a reason. I do not believe there is a grand plan that doles out justice fairly. In turn, I think it’s each of our responsibility to try to make the world more fair and more just. Especially those of us born into privilege. One of the best things about religion, in my opinion, is the social pressure to do charitable works. I wish that were a bigger part of secular life. Change is hard, but small actions—a donation, a few hours volunteering or organizing—move the world closer to how we might wish it to be. In a less practical, more abstract way, I’d say part of the message of my book is that there is a great and profound beauty in existence. Just having this momentary glimpse, this brief experience of being alive, is a very lucky thing. It’s astonishing that any of us are here at all. And I have found some solace in that, even during very
way and I think that robs us of something we long for. We malign facts as “cold and hard,” but the way the light returns to us after the winter solstice is no less wondrous because we know it’s a result of the axial tilt of the Earth. For me, understanding only makes it more sacred. People often talk about religion as a pathway to being a part of “something larger than ourselves.” Science provides exactly that. We are part of the universe. And as my dad would say, “We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.” If one is looking for meaning, I think that sense of wonder can be a deep wellspring.
Which rituals bring you joy? Have they changed over the years? I mean, I love and have always loved a party, so regardless of the occasion, secular or religious, that brings me a great deal of joy. But I have, in recent years, a newfound sense of awe about candle lighting, which appears in so many disparate rituals. I find myself kind of moved by the idea of a small light, a tiny approximation of a sun, of a star, being used to celebrate and mark time. Fire is a perfect symbol of the double-edged sword of nature, it’s a source of light and warmth, but also de-
hard times.
struction. If you strip away everything else, it seems like
In this book you encourage readers to reconnect with a sense of wonder. Why do you think this is important? How does wonder about our world help us to live meaningful lives?
system and the complexities of life on Earth.
I think we all really crave that thrill in the pit of our stomachs, that sense of awe in one way or another. Sometimes we get it from movies or amusement parks or dancing all night—which are great, don’t get me
such an elegant way of honoring our place in the solar
The chapters of For Small Creatures Such as We all begin with eclectic quotes from philosophers, authors, thinkers, and sages throughout history. How did you collect all of these inspired bits of wisdom? Why did you decide to include them?
wrong, but we often long for something else. Humans
Some, like the ones by James Baldwin, Edna St. Vin-
have been trying to piece together where and when we
cent Millay, and Marcus Aurelius, I have loved all my life. Others I discovered only recently, even while doing research for the book. But they are all quotes or poems that leaped out at me the first time I read them; they seemed almost highlighted to me, a perfect crystallization of some important idea, like hearing a bell ring in your mind. (There were a couple lines from Watch the
Throne I really wanted to include as well, but getting the rights to song lyrics is very difficult!) I try to be always reading, Googling, learning, drawing connections. I think we get this artificial sense from school that subjects are divided into categories that have nothing to do with one another, but it’s not true. Literature is very hard to understand without history, history is very hard to understand if you don’t have a grasp of the science available at the time, science is impossible without math, and so on. My parents spent their lives writing about science, but they taught me to love poetry and history, film and literature, and what we could glean from each was intertwined with what we could glean from the others.
This is your first book. Why did you decide to write a book? Why now? Did anything about the experience surprise you? Well, it’s funny, I tried for a long time to write a screenplay with a main character who thinks a lot of the same
ble of working magic.” Did the writing process bring out any feelings of “working magic”? There are grueling, frustrating moments in writing, but also thrilling ones where what’s inside you seems to be rushing out faster than you can type. I felt a sense of magic when I imagined I was fitting the puzzle pieces of what I wanted to say together to create a larger picture. But I felt the most magic reading my parents’ work as I wrote this book. I quote them a lot (and of course, the title comes from their work). I’ve now read a lot of their books and essays, but I have not read nearly all of what they wrote together or individually. My dad has been gone for almost twenty-three years, but because I have not yet read all his work, all of his words, there is still some part of him in my future. That does feel like magic to me.
What do you hope readers will take away from this book?
things I think. It would always just end up being her giv-
The sense that skepticism need not mean cynicism, that
ing these long diatribes, which were not very cinematic.
questioning and thinking critically shouldn’t take the
At some point I thought I better cut out the middleman
pleasure or the wonder out of life. But rather that sci-
and just start writing what I actually think instead of
ence can be the source of untold beauty and awe. And
hiding behind a fictional version of myself. I started with
that while yes, our lives are short and we are small in a
essays, and then over time and with the encouragement
vast universe, there can be a sense of joyful splendor on
and support from a lot of nice people, I started to feel
the other side of the existential crisis.
like there was a book growing inside me. That more or less coincided with the time when something else started growing inside me: namely my daughter. The book is dedicated to her, and she was in many ways the impetus to start writing it. The biggest surprise was that after being a lifelong procrastinator, motherhood suddenly made me more efficient than I had ever been before! I could not have predicted that. I think the idea of carving out time to write, time away from her, forced me to say to myself, “Sasha, you must be productive!
And also, that even though we all too often go to great lengths to highlight the differences between our cultures, human beings share so many of the same ideas and experiences. No matter our background or beliefs, if we go back far enough, all of our ancestors were once looking up at the night sky, yearning to understand the secrets of life on this planet more deeply.
What’s next for you?
You only have childcare three hours today, you cannot
I’d like to write a children’s book based on some of the
spend it looking at Instagram!”
themes explored in For Small Creatures Such as We.
Your father once wrote, “Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capa-
I’m also very interested in pattern recognition, why and how the human brain finds patterns and why they are so important to us. This is something I touch on a little in the book but I want to understand it more deeply, especially how it connects to our language and storytelling. I don’t know if that means going to graduate school or just doing a lot of reading, but I have feeling it might lead me somewhere interesting.