I have long held in my personal belief system that electric light has done much to destroy the average person's appreciation of the infinite. Throughout history till the 20th Century, all one had to do is to look at the moonless night sky and there was the infinite in their face. Now air and light pollution makes it difficult to see all but the brightest celestial objects and that difficulty discourages many from even trying.
As for the remainder of this article, I can appreciate the author's concepts but I have never been literalist in wondering how high heaven was in altitude. Yes we retain the same 5 senses that our ancestors did and like them we are limited in our personal sphere of perceptions BUT with the knowledge that is built by standing on the shoulders of previous year's giants, we are not so limited in only those senses to know of the things beyond.
Yes...I hate suburban street lights...HATE THEM
You might check out “At Day’s Close” by A. Roger Ekirch which is a lyrical examination of life before artificial light. It’s very thought provoking.
I would disagree that the article writer is longing for a literalist view of cosmology. I think he’s pointing out that a more technical view of our relationship with the material world just produces an oddly narrow view of human relationships with God, Nature, and even other human beings.