Some years ago I was sent a
series of photos that showed the perspective of the planets of our solar system
to that of our sun... then our sun to a series of 'local' stars... and then
those 'local' stars to other stars in the universe. Well let me tell you it was
a VERY humbling experience.
We humans in general have this idea that we are the
greatest thing in all of creation. We believe that we are
the pinnacle of all of creation. Well I am here to tell you that is a
false ideology. Yes we are special, just as all life is special, but the
Universe itself is the pinnacle of all creation. It is amazing, it is vast, it
is overwhelming when you begin to think about the true size of what is out
there... what is beyond our tiny little blue covered rock.
Take a moment to look these images over... really look at
them and think about the scale of size and the VAST number and amount of
'stuff' in the known universe... then tell me we are the pinnacle of creation
with a clear conscious.
So first let us look at humans to scale with
other mammals oh the planet:
So compared to some of the animals on this planet humans are
pretty darn small. Take into perspective things that we build... say the statue
of liberty to a rig:
As you can see a human is TINY compared to some of the
man-made structures. And the Statue of Liberty compared to other more modern
structures:
Even on a planetary scale we
humans are so very very small. So let us take a look at the scale of the
planets in our solar system and beyond:
Soooo.... got a bit of perspective on our size and importance in the grand scale the Universe? How about the fact there are about 200-400 billion stars in our galaxy alone. There are about 80-100 billion galaxies in the observable universe.... seeing how LARGE stars are do you see now how small our place is in the universe? Can you see just how precious our little spot of blue truly is?
When you begin to understand the scale of of the universe around you, life also becomes even more important because if even a small fraction of worlds held life there would still be more emptiness than there is life. So why do we so wantingly destroy ourselves and our planet?
3 comments:
Wow! That is perspective!! So well written and the scales are just amazing...
Thank you Trish. It was something that really has been on my mind as of late that I think people really should take a moment to stop and think about.
When we compare ourselves to other, larger things, we seem unimportant, and that is, perhaps, how it should be. As humans, however, we have a built in egocentrism that is remarkable. To others, those who love us, and to ourselves, we are very important. We are, literally, all we have. One problem with seeing our own insignificance, is that it makes it far easier to see others as insignificant. If we see ourselves as insignificant compared to others, our egocentric nature can make it so that, in order to see ourselves as important, it's easier to see others that are different, as less significant than we are. Just a thought.
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