Micro to Macrocosm

I was walking my dog Rufus earlier this morning when he paused for some serious sniffing near the neighbor's fence. Next to me was a corner brick column that anchors the fence with a large, square cement capital. While Rufus was busy sniffing around I noticed the top of the capital was covered in various lichens of different shapes and colors. Also on top were a multitude of ants scurrying about. That's when several acute thoughts struck me.

In this spot were a variety of species that inhabit the planet. Lichens, ants, trees, grasses, a canine, and a human, just to name a few. The lichens, considered by some to be the oldest living organisms on the planet, are beneficial to both trees and animals. The ants were tirelessly going about whatever their business was, probably unaware or unconcerned with the lichens. The grass and trees were soaking up the sunlight, busy with their photosynthetic business. They were unaware or unconcerned with the ants who in turn were unaware or unconcerned with the lichens. The canine was busy sniffing the ground unaware (and definitely unconcerned!) about the photosynthesis going on around it by the plant life that was indifferent to the ants who were indifferent to the lichens. The human was the only one to realize the profound nature of the moment. We were all living in our own realities, our own universes, and yet all existing in the vast and beautifully overlapping Venn diagram of life in the cosmos.

I will move through my day a little more in awe and little more humbly and tenderly.

What Lies Beyond

One of my oldest and dearest friends has been facing the challenge of cancer that has spread to his bones (bone metastasis or "bone mets") that originated as prostate cancer. He faces this new challenge in his life with a sense of mindfulness, presence, and positive attitude. To those around him his attitude has been a balm for coming to terms with and accepting the (more than likely) inevitable conclusion of the situation. He messaged me this morning with an old quote of his he'd stumbled across. 

“At some point, the neural circuits will shut down, the lights of consciousness will wink out, and the long nighty-night will begin. And we will be freed from all human concerns by the gift of nonexistence. But until that point, we live still. After that point, we will be in precisely the same place we were before we were born. Not there, not anywhere and without a care.”

This is classic thought and attitude of my dear friend. I regret that his quote is spot-on. I regret what it means for all of us who will eventually leave behind those who have loved us and cherished our presence. It conjures questions and thoughts which have been pondered since time began. The curiosity of what lies beyond is titillating to say the least. We want to believe in something more. Everything we do has a beginning and an end. But those ends are always the beginnings of something else. We can't comprehend the notion of nothingness. Countless humans and histories have come before we joined this current one. Countless humans and histories will come after us. To try and wrap our brains around the notion that we will no longer "be" is difficult. To embrace that there may be nothing is onerous. It's not a dark room with no sound and all we have to do is open the door onto "the present." It's literally nothing. Can that possibly be? If we are energy beings in a particular form, and if energy can be neither created, or more importantly hopeful here, nor destroyed, do we transmogrify into something else? Sometime more? Something more "universal"? Are we caterpillars who become other-dimensional butterflies? Will we be able to observe old friends and loved ones "back here"? If "there" exists will we have emotions there? Will we join up with old friends and family who've been waiting for us in our new, possibly higher form? Do our energies attach to one another even in the wherever-that-may-be? I can't imagine that there will be emotions or thoughts as we know them. As sure as his quote says, we will most certainly be without a care. 

The Optical Delusion of Being a Human

"A human being is part of the whole, called by us “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

– Albert Einstein in replying to a stranger who asked for consolation on the death of his son.

Of Filaments and Networks

The image in red is a photo of a section of the universe. All the strands are billions of galaxies that have clumped together to form what are called "galactic filaments." The image in purple is a section of the neural network of the human brain. The similarity is inescapable and makes me stop and ponder everything. Does it you?