As I left the Science Museum in Munich I popped over to their shop. I had been meaning to get something to put on the walls of our studio, which had been unbearably bare for months. So, when I saw these beautiful postcards of telescope photos of deep-space phenomena -- nebulas, dwarf stars, galaxies -- I decided to buy them and glue them on a poster. Et, voila.
It looks great. The fact is that I don't just like the aesthetic side of these images, though they are very beautiful -- they awe me and give me comfort. Why is that? Well, the awe part is pretty self-explanatory: to think that these huge exuberantly colored masses of matter exist thousands of light years away is a fact that explodes like firework in my mind.
To think that throughout the vast universe stars are collapsing, galaxies arising, and black holes sucking in unimaginable amounts of energy really puts your existence in perspective. Me and you, we are very very very small. I'm an atheist, but not one of those that laments not being able to believe. The accidental and chaotic nature of existence quickens life for me: it makes it more flavorful. Also, I definitely would not like to live for all eternity; one time around is enough, and besides mortality is truly the spice of life.
There is a certain anarchic liberation in these thoughts for me. It makes any problems seem trifling, it makes for an equanimity in accepting life as it is. This isn't fatalism, because to me the sense of randomness of collapsing stars frees me from over-thinking and over-judging and allows me to be.
So, sit back and enjoy the show, mighty stars are folding in on themselves, exploding into nothingness, and we will too -- but just thinking how unlikely our existence is makes it all strangely worthwhile.
It's surely related to a power that comes out of acknowledging our vulnerability. I am not sure I can make myself at all clear; but if you can't say something it's best to sing it. Which is precisely what the Monty Python did on exactly this subject -- they capture some of my feelings pretty well.
The last lines of the song always shake a laugh out of me:
"And pray there's intelligent life somewhere out there in space/
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth."
1 comment:
The museum is good, but the shop is truly exquisite. Isn't it?
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