I've been thinking about space a lot in regards to my own origin and how I came to be. It's awe inspiring to look up at the night sky and know that I am some small part of that universe. The universe is massive, to the point were we can not comprehend how large and vast it is. Our planet is a speck in the Galaxy and we are a speck on that speck.
With that large of a scale it's funny to think about things on this planet as if they some how matter. The universe doesn't care about how wonderful a rose garden looks, or if the sun rise is breath taking. We could be destroyed, our whole planet gone tomorrow and the cosmos would never notice.
As Neil deGrasse Tyson said In an amazing speech "We are star dust." What he means is that when a star dies and explodes it spreads it's chemicals and elements out in to space, and after billions of years it ends up in us. The chemicals that make up our bodies are traceable to phenomenon in the cosmos. Our basic composition is traceable to stars! How amazing is that?
so why then does it matter if we exist? If we could all be gone tomorrow and not even be missed, why do we exist? Simple, we are how the universe can know it's self. dogs don't marvel at the stars, horses don't contemplate the meaning of life. we are how the cosmos knows it exists. with out creative thought and scientific understanding, the universe couldn't understand it's own existence. I'm not saying we are the only creatures in the universe that look at the night sky and ponder about space, but we are the only ones on this planet that do.
Now this may make you feel small but it shouldn't! How amazing is it that we feel so much? Forget parting the Red Sea, I get to know joy and love, sorrow and pain, now that is a miracle! we get to feel anger over a flat tire, we get to laugh at a stupid joke, we get to love! To me, that is the meaning to life, experiences, knowledge, loving people and accepting one day it will be over and that that's OK. The universe is grand and marvelous, but so are we. I hope one day every one will understand how beautiful every person is.
I like the idea of finding joy in the little things. Also, of locating and defining yourself in the universe.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to question your assertion that we're the only animals capable of pondering things like space. There are studies that show that primates are capable of self-recognition, based on how they react in front of a mirror. I saw a national geographic where they showed one picking stuff out of her own hair. Recognition of self is an important part of cognition. I think it is very possible we are the only ones, but perhaps we aren't? Just a thought...