Our
Place in the Cosmos
“The
Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be…We are, in the most profound
sense, children of the Cosmos.”
Carl
Sagan
I’ve
been searching for images of the Cosmos for a presentation I’m supposed to do
next month on synchronicity. There are millions of images, but even more human
grandiosity in the quotes about our place in the Cosmos. Some of the more noted
scholars, however, play down our importance in the big scheme of things, and
one quote even had aliens observing us from outer-space wondering why we
strange little humans kill each other over something hidden in the sand when we
have a whole universe to discover. It’s a good question.
Neil
deGrasse Tyson is fairly down-to-earth about our status. He simply says that in
the stretches of the universe, we’re really small. In our relatively ordinary
galaxy, we’re pretty small. Heck, in our modest solar system, we’re pretty
small. So, one might contemplate, as I am doing now, “What’s the point of us?” A
small, warlike species inhabiting a tiny blue orb on the fringes of an ordinary
spiral galaxy, in the middle of limitless space. How in the world did we get to
be so arrogant? Who crowned us King of the Cosmos? And please don’t tell me “Jesus!”
He wasn’t in the least bit concerned with vanity.
What
makes us so special? Sagan would say because we’re children of the Cosmos, but
so is everything else living. Since everything in the known world is made of
the same elements, with absolutely no out-of-the-ordinary substances, how is it
what we humans are the designated alfa creatures? Some say it’s because we have
the biggest brains, but there are five other species whose brains are larger than
ours. Some say it’s because “God made us so” but if that’s true, surely God
would have given us the capacity to love and not make war. What kind of God
likes to see us blow each other up?
Do you
ever ask such questions? Because asking such questions is kind of a hint into “why
us?” We are the species that is driven to discover, driven to push the
envelope, expand the boundaries of human understanding. Our consciousness is
different from other species. It wants to KNOW. Through us, the intelligence
that is the Cosmos, learns about itself. We are a drop in the bucket of all
that is, but we are a conscious drop, and that makes all the difference. If we
do not create a kind and loving cosmos, there will never be one, and if we
continue as waring factions, that is the kind of world our children will
inherit. Think about it—what kind of cosmic consciousness will you pass on to
your children today?
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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