Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity. I’m not sure about the first. And that’s by Albert Einstein. On the next few words, I was just pondering over some random concepts. Come, let’s lift off for some moments and soft land on some perspectives of life.
Starting from an individual scale, you probably live in a house/building. Your building is one of the 10-12 buildings in your neighborhood. Your neighborhood is one of many in the city. A city is one of a few in a state/province and a state/province is one of many in a country. Your country is one of 207 on a huge chunk of rock that we call Earth; our home. You are one of the 7 billion people who call this planet, home – living your day-to-day life, doing your job, sharing laughter and sometimes stressing over problems.
This “huge chunk” of rock orbits a gigantic star which we call, The Sun. Nearly 1,300, 300 earths can fit inside the Sun! Looks like the Earth isn’t that “huge” after all, huh??. Moving upwards, the Earth is one of the 8 planets that orbit the Sun; altogether comprising our solar system, which is located at the edge of a spiral arm of our galaxy, Orion Arm. We are far from the center. There are 400 billion more stars and at least 100 billion planets in our galaxy; The Milky Way.
At this point, the earth is just a fraction of a pixel on the screen. Moving out further, The Milky Way is one of the 30 galaxies in our local cluster and one of a million in the Virgo Super cluster. Taking one final step further, there are nearly 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe and our galaxy is nowhere near the center and no bigger than the average! Our planet earth is now just a fraction of a fraction of a dot!
What significance do we have in the vast cosmic arena? How do our problems matter? Do they matter at all? Are we alone in the universe? Perhaps yes, or maybe no – both the answers seem equally scary! The question now arises, if we’re so insignificant in the universe, then what is the purpose of all this happiness and suffering? Why do we live?
Honestly, I do not know the answer. But I do believe in my instincts. Life is perhaps an opportunity to experience consciousness itself. It’s a spiritual journey that is iterative and one gathers everything he/she has learnt and carries it along to the next life and so on. From Richard Bach’s fable ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’, – “We choose our next world through what we learn in this one. Learn nothing, and the next world is the same as this one, all the same limitations and lead weights to overcome.”
Life is about the little things that matter the most – forgiving someone, letting go of something, that one short lived moment of togetherness, telling someone you love them. Your problems and worries seem so insignificant now. Trust the dots and embrace the chaos. It will work out. Life is just too short to live with hate, regret and revenge so just let it go. You never know when you’re seeing someone for the last time, so forgive and love. Cherish the smiles, hugs and kisses. We’re all one species living on this tiny blue dot which is an infinitesimally small stage in the vast cosmic arena. Your time here is limited, so go for it! That cute girl you met the other day, call her and ask her out for coffee.
-by Sid Ramesh
TheHosteller 