i am trying the new editor, i make it feel like paper
You know I have been with others
You understand it but you chose to avert your heart
cheek turned
ears off you
breathe remembering
my sweetness
I belong to you, I belong to you, I belong to only you now
---
Contact, Carl Sagan
Father Palmer Joss to Astronomer Eleanor Arroway
JOSS
Relativity. Explain this to me one
more time... even if you traveled
near the speed of light, when you
came back --
ELLIE
If you came back.
JOSS
If you came back. If you survived
at all. Which it's pretty certain
you wouldn't...
JOSS
You're willing to die for this.
ELLIE
It's what my whole life's been
aimed at; the only thing that's
given it a sense of purpose.
She looks away. A beat, then:
ELLIE
I read your book.
JOSS
Really.
ELLIE
Losing Faith: The Search For
Meaning In the Age of Reason.
Catchy.
JOSS
What'd you think?
ELLIE
I'm more interested in the story
behind the story... How a young man
goes from living on the streets of
South Boston to being the best-
selling media figure rubbing elbows
with the President.
JOSS
(after a pause)
I won't deny I was ambitious. When
I had my... experience... I wanted
to tell my story to as many people
as possible. I'm the first to admit
that process included making some
compromises.
(still seems
troubled; then)
You didn't answer my question.
ELLIE
I thought it was well-written.
Heart-felt. And a little bit
naive... But that's just the enemy's
perspective.
JOSS
I don't consider you the enemy,
Ellie. I'm not 'out to get'
technology. I only ask the
question: Does it have to have all
the answers? I look out there and I
see so much emptiness... People are
so starved for meaning, and it's
something they just don't seem to be
getting from science.
ELLIE
Did you ever stop to think that
maybe that isn't science's fault,
but meaning's?
JOSS
I don't follow.
ELLIE
(quietly)
Maybe the reason people are having
trouble finding meaning isn't
because science has obscured it...
maybe it's just revealed it isn't
there.
Now it's Joss' turn to be disarmed. He looks at her;
softly:
JOSS
Do you really believe your life is
meaningless?
ELLIE
(looking away)
I don't know. But as a scientist I
have to consider that possibility.
JOSS
And yet you're willing to die for
this cause, the one thing that's
given your life a sense of purpose.
Don't you see the contradiction
here -- ?
ELLIE
It's getting late...
JOSS
What are you so afraid of, Ellie?
JOSS
You're shaking.
(fascinated)
You're the paradox here, Ellie. So
incredibly brilliant, and yet...
(softly)
What does it feel like to understand
everything in the universe except
yourself?