Unable to explain the mysteries of the cosmos, we bask in the light of a lunar
eclipse and entrust our fate to an amputated rabbit foot. There’s something so incredibly beautiful when the alignment of the stars, forces people to believe in previously disregarded superstitions. Very seldom do we bother to come to terms with
our own ambivalence.
Whether we realize it or not, we rationalize and
compartmentalize every aspect of our lives. We make plans, set objectives, and
set aside money for retirement. There is
certainly a reward for hard work, but the reality is that our lives follow an
extremely aleatory trajectory.
Stealing photographs is the cruelest game of all; they’re
the one thing that can’t be replaced.
It doesn’t take us long to realize that we’re just a
mindless mob running around with good intentions. There are thousands of
religions and philosophies saying that we must “let go” and “live in the
moment.” There is likely some benefit in doing so, but we tend to see the world
in terms of past and present, or spend our time searching for enlightenment. However,
it’s also true that spinning around in circles going nowhere at all is more of
a default setting than a conscience choice.
Preparing a dog for a fight involves beating it mercilessly;
it’s the pass time of choice for the aristocracy.
Intellectual assent, and verbal affirmation of commitment to
devote ones self to a higher cause approaches incomprehensibility. It’s only
when we see ourselves as perpetrators of injustice are we able to recognize
that there’s more life than our own obscurity.
Perspective isn’t something that is attainable in absolute terms, but
every now and again the kaleidoscope reveals a glimpse of something beyond that
which has been experienced previously.
The following is an intriguing excerpt from
the book Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan:
From this distant vantage point, the Earth might
not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again
that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love,
everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was,
lived out their lives.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the
delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged
by this point of pale light.
Our planet is a lonely speck in the great
enveloping cosmic dark. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly
of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it
underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to
preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.
