I may not believe in the supernatural, but I sure do believe in the power of human spirituality. That Buddhist monk is able to just sit there while he burns alive in protest. That is truly incredible.
You would think we should be learning from this. But we are always asked to concentrate on divisions and disagreements. We have institutionalized competitiveness that doesn't bring out the best. We should be looking for collaboration, and listening more. We can do better. This is us. This is who we are.
Brian Cox on the BBC does something similar and has energised the public spread of science. There's a rare breed where scientific prowess, the ability to teach others, and being able to connect to the public combine, and they're way more valuable than we imagine.
Science is so much more than neat, or interesting. It is a slice of humanity. We do need more of these people.