Our Universe, Ourselves!

I like how this video shows the grandeur and incomprehensible enormity of our universe! It's mind boggling to know that it takes 100,000 years traveling at the speed of light just to begin to see the shape of our Milky Way (and 5 million light years away our galaxy itself becomes a mere speck of light)! One is humbled, but at the same time exhilarated. We are all a part of this amazing universe and this Sacred Mystery is a part of us.


I believe our ability to see deeply into our cosmos reflects our growing consciousness. For most of human history our vision was limited to what could be seen with the human eye. We assumed all that we saw revolved around us and that we were the center of the universe. Geocentric humans felt they were at the top of the hierarchy and that it was their right to dominate and exploit nature and others. But now we see we are no where near the top or center of anything.  We see we are a mote of dust on a speck of dust spinning through an endless universe. How can our consciousness not be changed by this?


I think a journey to the edge of the cosmos also signals our journey to the deepest and truest parts of who we are. As more of the miraculousness of the universe is revealed, we will be able to more readily grasp the miracle of who we are and the role we have to play on earth.


In 2003, astronomers turned the Hubble telescope on a dark patch in the night sky, the size of a grain of rice held at arm's length. They thought they might just see more black space, but what they saw amazed them. Repeated exposures kept revealing fainter galaxies. Over 11 days, The Ultra Deep Field, called the "most amazing photograph ever taken", revealed over 10,000 galaxies in that very small part of the sky!

Hubble Ultra Deep Field- The Most Amazing Photograph Ever Taken   NASA

Pictures like this can make us feel very, very, very small, yet indescribably large at the same time. 

The universe we live in is one integrated, whole; all is connected, all is sacred. May its splendor continually blow our minds and shatter the illusion of our fear-based egos, so we can see once again that we are whole, good and intimately connected to the one, great web of life.

The Seventh Step to Inner Peace- Connecting to Your Divinity and Purpose is next!

"  When you try to pick out anything by itself, you find it hitched to everything else in the universe."    John Muir 

Flammarion Woodcut- Some say he is peering at the wonders within us!

Wishing you a shower of blessings on this day of giving thanks. 11/25/2010