Thursday, June 23, 2011

Putting Things in Perspective

Contemplate the universe by staring up at the sky, where a sphere of hot plasma and interwoven magnetic fields generate energy by nuclear fusion, as our solar system travels through the interstellar cloud it entered some tens of thousands of years ago. As the moon orbits us, and we orbit the sun, the sun is, in fact, orbiting our galaxy, the Milky Way—completing one orbit about every 225-250 million years. Our galaxy contains 200-400 billion stars and is estimated to have at least 50 billion planets, 500 million of which could be located in the habitable zone of their parent star. Our galaxy belongs to a group of 50 closely bound galaxies, and there are more than 170 billion galaxies in the OBSERVABLE universe, which is the totality of everything that exists. The universe was created by the Big Bang and we have no idea what existed before the Big Bang.

We foolishly believe we are kings of the universe when a single sun flare could knock out all of our communications systems. The last observed solar flare happened in 1859, and some scientists estimate the next one should be around 2012. The sun has been burning for 4.5 billions years. To put that into perspective, it’s 2011. We have been here for the blink of an eye in universe time, yet we think we are almighty and alone. We show complete disregard for nature, a balanced life system that began to form some 3.4-4 billion years ago. Those studying the universe are attempting to understand our place in it, and to answer such questions as, what is the meaning of life? Many are beginning to believe we are a part of, and one with, a single, whole unified field of intelligent energy. Some scientists believe they have found signs of life on Mars, which would suggest that the universe is, in fact, teeming with life.

Since I’ve become interested in the universe, I have gained a better understanding of what I was seeing and exploring when journeying under the influence of Ayahuasca and other psychoactive plants. If we all studied the universe and made space exploration a human priority, I believe the world would be a different place. For one thing, we would have a reverence for nature, as it is through her that the universe manifests itself on earth.

All I’m saying is, look up. Tell your friends to look up. There should be a space section in every newspaper. We should all be preoccupied with what is happening above us. Once we reconnect with what is above, we will know how to connect and to live in balance with everything around us. Look up!


6 comments:

  1. Interesting thoughts man, but I completely disagree with your "balanced life system" stuff. The universe is in constant flux: equilibrium/balance is an impossibility. The sun is burning through itself. At a certain point it will burn itself out, destroying all the planets that rely on it. THAT is life: destruction and rebirth. It's a cycle we can't fully understand but that has an inevitable end result: the end of our planet.

    What we call nature will itself inevitably be destroyed and something new will take its place. Plenty of "natures" have existed before the current one and there are many more to come once we're gone. The negative impacts we've had on the earth are nothing compared to what it's done to itself: countless extinctions, unimaginable climate change, continental shifts.

    So while I agree we should all look up, to me it just goes to show how impotent we are.

    Gotta run, those fossil fuels won't burn themselves

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  2. Haha. Good one.

    "Cycle we can't fully understand" sounds like a balanced life system to me. Our sun will burn out, but before that its layers will expand and consume the planet. Then the sun may form a planetary nebula, which plays a crucial role in the chemical evolution of the galaxy. Nature works in a kind of balance, in which death becomes life. When something in the forest dies it is returned to the soil, eventually playing a part in giving new life. Humans seem to operate out of this natural equilibrium or at least we are unconscious of it. In chemical agriculture, for example, nothing is returned to the soil as it is in organic agriculture. The result is that over time the soil becomes hard, dead and unusable. Humans would be much happier and healthier, I believe, if we returned to a state of balance within nature, or at least if we were much more preoccupied with it.

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  3. It's a balance that is on a scale we can't conceive of. And all chemicals come from the universe so I don't think the overall universe balance is affected in the least.

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  4. Yes, you are absolutely correct. Our actions will likely not impact the universe, at least not in a way that we can conceive of (depends on whether there is a divine hand behind the universe). What I am arguing is that humans would be much happier and healthier if we returned to a state of balance within nature, or at least if we were much more aware of it. Don't you find it odd that people want guidance in their life from the bible or whatever other text written by men with their own impulses? What is happening in the universe is unbelievably complex and wonderful. We should be learning and taking guidance from what we know of the universe. Think of what we could find out about life if we studied the universe in earnest. Wormholes may allow for time travel or rapid travel throughout the galaxy, for example. The most amazing thing about the universe is that it is governed by a set of rational laws that we can discover and understand, at least to a point.

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  5. "170 billion galaxies in the OBSERVABLE Universe, which is the totality of everything that exists...as far as we know!"

    Our lives are indeed a mere sliver in time. A profound realization I have also shared on shrooms while gazing at the stars from the lighthouse. You should look up "fractals". There's a good documentary you can watch on youtube which explains it well. There was this concept of infinite complexity that kept bombarding my thoughts while on shrooms, but I never understood it until I learned about fractals. It's crazy. I think you'll see it too.

    Beside the idea of a unified intelligent energy, consider this: Life is a property of matter, just waiting to self assemble when the conditions are right. Forget looking on other planets for simple life that evolved from nothing. Look at our own planet and at the evolution in current process. We can clearly see evolution taking place in the animal kingdom today. For instance, Hippos will soon be whales, etc...
    Perhaps we can discover the basic building blocks of life assembling themselves if we just know where to look?

    You definitely need to read Cosmos. If I didn't know any better, I'd think your blurb was written by Sagan himself!

    Also watch "Pale Blue Dot" on youtube. That will give you the Sagan inspiration I'm hoping for!

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  6. Thank you Galileus! I will check all of them out!

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