Infinitesimal, yet not insignificant…
Watching the Solar Eclipse today was one of the most spiritually elevating physical experiences I have ever had. The sheer grandeur and the scale of the event was over-whelming! It’s the cosmic alignment of the earth, the moon and the sun…. As familiar as these three massive celestial bodies seem, yet, the symphony, the momentous alignment and the spectacular visual treat, not to ignore the transporting experience during those few brief seconds of absolute linearity relative to where we were viewing it from… all created a magic that cannot be adequately expressed in words!
And as I was lost in the magnificent event, I couldn’t help but reflect on how ridiculously small we are!
A few hundred feet above the earth’s surface and we are barely noticeable, yet at that height, you would barely even know that earth has a curvature to it! And this massive mother of ours is but a small part of our very solar system… but a spec… barely noticeable!
And this gigantic solar system is completely lost in just the Orion belt, not to mention it’s even greater inconspicuousness in the Milky Way…
And the Milky Way, whose expanse is oh so totally incomprehensible, perishes into non-existence in comparison to the billions of billions of galaxies that exist in the Universe!
Of what consequence then, is this life?
It might seem for a moment that we impact so little; what could we possibly cause by simply throwing away this life?
And then the opposing waves of thoughts clash at the root of this futile idea with a force, a thousand times the measure… How much more significant is Mother Earth in this Grand Cosmic Drama, than our petty little selves are???
And as you go on expanding this thought, the Milky Way itself could well cease to exist this very moment and the Universe wouldn’t skip a beat!
And this thought seemed to clarify the crux of the Philosophy that we have been raised in….
You have been placed here… now… to do the best you can, within the sphere of influence you exist in… And it is your responsibility to do the very best you can within the realm you exist in with this body that has been given to you… within the time that has been given to you!
Going no further in this philosophical thought, that each one of us does what we are meant to do in this infinite cosmic symphony, is why this universe exists as it does… Each one of us playing our unique part….
It then is not a question of how much the impact of any single entity is, as much as it is about the collective impact of all the entities… us, the planets, the planetary systems, the stars, star systems, and so on!
And to me, the thought is refreshing, humbling, unifying, grand and significant….
We do exist for a purpose… it might seem very small… but it sure is significant!
