I'm glad that I was born when I
was, and that I've lived life the way I have. If I'd been born earlier I'd
never have had access to the scientific knowledge that now reveals just how
huge, complex and utterly intricately interconnected and beautiful the Universe
is. I think my awe of the Creator must be greater than was ever possible for
anyone who thought that the sun, moon and stars were just points of light
suspended in the air not far overhead, and that living things were no more than
what they looked like, instead of being evolving creations perpetually
struggling toward ever higher levels of sophistication and self realization.
On the other hand, by living when I
have, I've also experienced natural wonders that now are irretrievably lost to
future generations (pristine coastlines, vast rainforests, mountain valleys
before stripmining), and I've peacefully traveled in places where now it would
be deadly to visit. None of today's young people will ever see or experience
much of what I have, and I just wonder how that will affect them, how it will
leave them less appreciative of the Creation and of life in general than I have
grown to be.
I hope my forebodings about what's
about to happen to this world are wrong. However, if I'm right, then all I can
hope is that the next generation of folks sitting naked in the rain next to
their little twig-fires may occasionally enjoy their breakfasts as much as I am
now.
*****
SKY ORIENTATION
Perhaps nothing has influenced my
own spiritual development more than my gaining at least a hint of an insight
into the enormity, complexity and beauty of the Universe. Dewy nights I spent
in my backyard as I was growing up in Kentucky
spoke more powerfully to me than the words written in any holy book or spoken
by any human guru, mystic or prophet.
Jupiter with its elegant moons so
clearly visible this morning averages being about 400 million miles away. I
cannot really grasp what a million of anything is, so in my mind Jupiter simply
swims in an unimaginably empty abyss too far away to relate to. Yet this
distance is nothing compared to the distance of the next-brightest object in
last night's sky, Sirius the Dog Star, which this morning stood not far from
Jupiter. Sirius's distance from Earth is so great that light emanating from it
takes 8.7 years to reach here.
Since a light-year bespeaks a
distance of about 6,000,000,000,000 miles, Jupiter is only 0.00000145 of a
light-year away. If my calculations are right, Jupiter averages only about 46
seconds away, traveling at the speed of light. Jupiter is 46 seconds. Sirius is
8.7 YEARS... Think of it. Meditate on it.