Vast and awesome
Schoolchildren at Kew Gardens, looking even smaller from the Treetop Walkway, July 2017
“Once we lose our fear of being tiny, we find ourselves on the threshold of a vast and awesome Universe…” – Carl Sagan
It’s easy to forget how tiny we are in the great scheme of things, until something reminds us. Often, these reminders– disaster, illness, aging, death, or simply being treated rudely or with disrespect– are not pleasant. Maybe what Sagan calls our “fear of being tiny” is mostly our longing for significance; the reasonable desire to achieve something lasting.
But when we turn our eyes outward, away from ourselves, the view really is incredible. Whether one is fascinated by astronomy, botany, people, animals, ideas, or imaginary tales– or all of the above and more– the scope of wonder is astoundingly broad. I find it to be a reliable defense against loneliness and despair.
Next time you are feeling blue, worried or forgotten, try stopping in your tracks and thinking of something totally unrelated to whatever is bothering you. Pull out a reference book you haven’t looked at in awhile, and flip through the pages until something catches your eye. Take a walk outside and look up at the sky, or open an old photo album and focus on the faces of friends and loved ones you haven’t seen lately. Spend an hour or two just being nosy curious at a local library, shopping mall or museum.
None of this is likely to solve our problems, of course. But they will almost certainly appear smaller to us after we’ve broken free of their grasp long enough to get some perspective. What vast and awesome things can you see from your threshold today?
This post was first published seven years ago. The original post, comments and photo are linked, along with two other related posts, below. These links to related posts, and their thumbnail photos, do not appear in the blog feed; they are only visible when viewing the individual posts by clicking on each one. I have no idea why, nor do I know how they choose the related posts. That’s just the way WordPress does things.
- Posted in: Uncategorized
- Tagged: big, curiosity, discovery, distraction, exploration, interest, life, perspective, small, universe, wonder
Defeat Despair 
Good morning, Julia! I 100% agree that diving into something unrelated helps immensely.
At the moment, Spartacus is being his Siamese self, and quietly insisting that I get up. I love that he’s a quiet Siamese. I’m not crazy about his other methods for attention getting, such as knocking things off ledges or my desk, and sharpening his claws on the suitcase I’ve not yet put away after a recent trip.
I wish you a wonderful weekend, with some time to relax and enjoy a hobby you have been missing.
Spartacus– I love that name for a Siamese cat! You just reminded me of a few of the reasons why I haven’t adopted a cat myself. I would love to have one, but I don’t have the caretaking energy I once had, so I save it all for Matthew and enjoy other people’s animals (or nature’s animals) whenever I can.