©2001 Jon Youngblood
Unity Through Understanding
A Guidebook for the Recently Alive
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©2001 Jon Youngblood Unity Through UnderstandingA Guidebook for the Recently Alive |
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As instruments became increasingly sophisticated, our vision went beyond our own Galaxy. There are as many galaxies in the universe as there are stars in our galaxy. As many galaxies as grains of sand on Waikiki Beach. We are talking vast numbers here.
The discovery of galaxies is surprisingly recent. It was not until the last century did we know what they were. Around 905 AD the Persian astronomer Al Sufi in his Book of Fixed Stars noted a "nebulous" star that would later be revealed to be the closest of our galactic neighbors, the Andromeda Galaxy. It was not until 1924 however, due to the observations of Edwin Hubble, that these so called "nebulous" objects were conclusively shown to be galaxies existing outside of our own Milky way galaxy! Very recent indeed and not really all that much time for that information to really be soaked into the minds of the population at large. So that not only are we only one little planet revolving around one sun out of thousands in our galaxy, but only one galaxy amongst countless other galaxies. Trying to imagine that much vastness is difficult still today.
Galaxies are not just spread out evenly across the universe. They appear in clusters. These clusters are being mapped out and detailed in 3-D computer models that give a breathtaking view of what the universe actually looks like. Like thousands of strings of pearls lacing and criss-crossing the cosmos.
Universe: Open or Closed? Preface to part 3
Implications of an Open
Universe:
Due to recent discoveries that the universe is not only failing to slow down its expansion but actually speeding up, that cosmologists have concluded that the universe is in fact open - and will continue to expand forever until the universe becomes a vast frozen wasteland. Thermal energy will eventually fade away as it's energy gets distributed over an ever increasing area.
That the universe is open
is somewhat saddening. The picture
of a universe in perpetual expansion and contraction (big bang to big crunch),
seems somehow more “alive”. I
have always thought of the analogy of this cycle of expansion and contraction to
be something like the heartbeat of God. That
the universe will expand forever seems rather dead.
Which is what it will eventually come to be. No reincarnation for the universe itself.
It will expand, grow cold, and die.
Never again will there be another big bang.
Never again a creation. Never
again a sentient mind arising out of a compilation of DNA and cellular wiring
within the organ called brain. Never
again a Garden of Eden. Never again
will the idea of God (or Gods) be pondered by the early and simple mind of
beings. Never again a Moses come to teach the chosen people, or a
Jesus to set them free from sin. The
idea of reincarnation is often appealing because it allows us to re-experience
the world anew. You remember the
joys of being young. The newness of
the world. The joys of discovery.
Of exploration. Well, if you only live once, you can never experience those
things again. Only if you die and
are reborn can you ever hope to experience those things again.
That
the universe is open, offers some meaning.
Because, baby, this is it! It
will only happen once (at least existence itself will) and so you have only one
chance to get it right. It is
therefore extremely important that life be lived to its fullest.
You (in this total existence, if not in this life) only have one chance.
****
The universe is a totality. Composed of individual atoms, animals, humans, planets, galaxies, and clusters. And yet none could (or do) exist independently of each other. They work as a Whole. This seems self-evident, and still people live their lives feeling separate, detached, alone. As we have seen, language, and its necessity of dividing objects and things into namable components, has played a large part in our sensation of separation from the world around us.
There is not a universe wherein there is a body shaped black hole running around that would have been you had you existed. The universe is a whole with you in it. It could not be otherwise.
