I’ve been viewing maps recently that were produced during the Middle Ages. It has become clear to me that the early cartographers needed to rely on a certain amount of imagination to create a geographic depiction of the world. The church at the time took pains to build a Biblically favorable geography that had little to do with reality.

I’m wondering how a medieval intellect, a contemplative sort, sitting on the beach looking westward out across the Atlantic Ocean might have imagined what lay beyond. Many sailors of the time feared sailing too far west lest they fall off the edge of the world. Nightmares of an awaiting Hell so nearby must have terrified the medieval mind.

These days the contemplative sort might be looking upwards, outwards, imagining the earth being sucked into a black hole or being overwhelmed by dark matter and being no less terrified than his medieval forbearer. Fear of the unknown is the constant I guess for all of humankind.