This philosophical question not only ponders an age old curiosity, but can honestly address theological perspectives, yet I’m going to present this question in the physical realm. The same realm that measures things by that which we can hold in our hands.
That question is “Where are we in the universe?” the more I pondered this, well, the more I realize that I may just have Cosmos Phobia! (If that’s even a phrase… ) Because the sheer size of this question and the potential answer, there are days I frighten myself.
Well, right now, I’m at my computer. That computer is in my home. My home is in a specific city, that’s in a specific state. My state is in the United States, which is a man-named land mass that is located on Earth.
So far, so good.
So my computer is held up by my desk, that’s held in place by gravitational forces of mass-attraction on Earth.
Here’s where I start to loose it.
Earth floats around the Sun, which is much bigger than Earth
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There’s our solar system, which has neighbors that are bigger than we are!
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The solar system is part of the Milky Way. Zoinks, we’re getting so small, we don’t even exist in this pic!
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But it gets so much worse than that… see that speck in the left side of this pic?
That’s where our group of solar systems are in this chart. Folks, we aren’t even a pixel anymore!
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Our little speck, the Milky Way, has approximately 200 billion stars. Keep in mind, that’s stars. Like the Sun. Not planets like our little blue vessel called Earth.
But where is all this … “stuff” located? Where are all these galaxies located? What’s keeping this whole kit and kaboodle in place? That’s where I start to freak. When I start to notice the insignificant measure of man, of humanity, that’s when I run from the room. That is, until I realize I can’t run far enough to get away from this curiosity, this new emotional phobic panic! Seeing these scales, actually makes me wonder if man even counts!
And to ponder on yet another direction of thought, how can we not be alone in a forest this BIG!? But that’s for another day… another tirade or set of ‘Thoughts.’
Where are the strings?
To put it bluntly, what’s holding us up? And where does it end? Does it even begin? Or do we just exist because we think so? NOW that would be awesome, because if we exist only because we think so, then we should be able to shake the shackles of restrictive belief and change our life expectancies or even our physical limitations! (I’ve always thought it would be all the rage to be able to just up and whisk away to places … as they say in the movie, The Matrix, about Neo, ” … doing the Superman thing.”
So that’s one of my philosophical ponderings when I have a quiet moment and I stare up at the stars. Are we just another dust speck in some other world? Are we a marble in a bag of marbles, like at the end of Men In Black? Is this why the Enterprise in the original Star Trek TV Series couldn’t break through the edge of the galaxy? It’s a marble and you can’t leave it?
Dah! My brain starts to spin if my scales get too big. I have to get my focus back on what humans do best, and that s grasp only what they can see or hold in their hand. Some days, that’s not such a bad take on the world. Some days, it helps get on by!
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references:
Find Articles: Where in the universe are we?,
Comparison Images: Universe Reference Map (WARNING, the original image will take a long time to load. It’s HUGE! 12,000 by 3,000!)
Header Image: University of Sydney School of Physics.
Info references for one’s curiosity: Space.com, NASA, NASA: Our Solar System, JPL, JPL News.
