“It says something about the rarity and preciousness of life on this planet. The flip side of not finding life on another planet is appreciating life on earth.” — Carl Sagan
THE Big Bang Theory claims that out of gas and dust, the universe was born some 13.2 billion years ago in a spectacular explosion. The solar system where our tiny, fragile, magnificent earth orbits was born only in the last 4.5 billion years. Life, in the form of single celled organisms began on earth 3.4 billion years ago and man began to walk the earth just a few million years ago. How does one fathom the unfathomable? One brilliant writer drew a parallel about the existence of life as we know it in this way. If the time frame of 13.2 billion years were to be thought of as a 24-hour day, life only began the last two seconds before midnight.
Our planet earth, with its satellite moon, is the third rock from the sun – an ordinary, garden variety midsize yellow star – only one of two billion stars in an ordinary, garden variety spiral shaped galaxy called the Milky Way. Scientists estimate that our sun has enough fuel in its belly to burn for another 9 billion years at current brightness before it dies. There was a time when men thought that the Milky Way comprised the entire universe. Now we know better. Galaxies huddle together to form clusters and superclusters and our galaxy – the Milky Way – is only one of a small group of about 20 galaxies orbiting in our tiny neck of the woods of the visible cosmos. Scientists now claim that there are perhaps 125 billion galaxies. Maybe, even more.
Edwin Hubble – for whom the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was named – theorized that the universe is still expanding. In 1993, the Hubble telescope has been able to turn out stunning photographs of about 40 billion other galaxies orbiting in space in a universe that is perhaps, boundless. Since then, that telescope, the extension of the human vision into the vastness of the universe, has continued to astound even the most cynical among us. It has photographed the existence of another 1,500 galaxies, previously undiscovered. In 1997, the Hubble showed evidence of a black hole bigger than the sun’s mass – 300 million times at least. A few astronomers even theorize the distinct possibility that there is not just one universe but the existence of multiverses. The concept and the imagery of watching the night skies particularly on clear, moonless nights boggle the mind and strains the limits of the imagination.
Man has been sending out probes to find some other forms of life comparable to human life in the outer reaches of space but have found nothing convincing – as of yet. And while we search and probe for other life forms, we know that absence of evidence does not mean evidence of absence.
What is the point of bringing up this cosmic canvass that seems little to do with our mind, body and spirit? The point is this. It has taken billions of years in a universe so incredibly vast – it staggers the human imagination – for anyone born on earth to be given the wondrous gift of life the Creator of the Universe is giving each one of us – whether we deserve it or not – a gift that puzzles us no end.
One thing is certain, there is nothing on earth more precious than life. Looking at the big picture makes us see how little we are in the scheme of things, how insignificant our concerns are, how trivial our pursuits, how fearfully short and delicate life is and how utterly foolish to throw away the minutes and the hours in useless, useless fretting.
Next time you feel overwhelmed with tension, worry and ill health and seriously thinking of giving up – as you are perhaps tempted to do while you figure out the complexities of your life – do what the wise among us have done – sometimes out of sheer desperation. Look heavenward. Get out of yourself and out of the house on a moonless, cloudless, clear night and gaze at the stars in the heavens. Fall in love with your own life all over again. Thoreau was right when he said that the darkness reveals the heavenly lights.
Carl Sagan, the noted astronomer who began researching the origins of life beginning in the nineteen fifties made his mark in astronomy and cosmography showing that Venus is too hot, Mars is too cold and our wondrous planet, the Earth, a tiny blue and white marbled dot in the vast expanse of the cosmos – just right, for human life.
Carl Sagan wrote, “It says something about the rarity and preciousness of life on this planet. The flip side of not finding life on another planet is appreciating life on earth.”
If the earth with all its beauty and abundance and the vast expanse and majestic glory of the heavens themselves cannot impress upon thinking, feeling man the fragile and utterly precious nature of his own life, it is doubtful anything ever will.
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Nota Bene: Monette Adeva Maglaya is SVP of Asian Journal Publications, Inc. She has authored the book, “The Complete Success Guide for the Immigrant Life.” Her books are available at amazon.com or immigrantsuccess.com To send comments or requests, e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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