You really are not the centre of the universe
Finding freedom, confidence and a new sense of responsibility in the cosmic perspective
Even before the pandemic, humanity’s stress level has risen extremely high, so high that we constantly wonder for how long can we go on like this. Stress can be detected in many elements of our lives, from work to family, from relationships to studies and is often caused by the tiniest nuances, that would actually be easy to ignore if only we changed perspective. Through the cosmic viewpoint we are able to rise above the notion that the whole world revolves around us and we can arm ourselves with a newly-found confidence that our actions and decisions do not really matter on the grand scale of things.
Many centuries ago, watching the sun rise on one side and set on the other, people were convinced that the Earth stood still and all the stars, including that shiniest one, circled around our planet, making us — the rulers of the planet — the centre of the universe. All religions (originating from those times) are still making us, humans, the sole concern of the omnipotent, immortal entity, whatever name we assign to it. We tend to think that the great Machine was set into motion for us, even now, that scientific evidence had proven that not only Earth is not the centre of the galaxy, but our galaxy is far from being the centre of the universe.
So no, it does not all revolve around us, no one actually cares about our sins, sorrows and happiness, but you know what, that’s okay! More than okay actually.
In 1990 the Voyager-1 took a photo of Earth from a distance of 6 milliard kilometres and that was finally a true revelation of how tiny we are in the entire universe. Based on the photograph, Carl Sagan astrophysicist famously named our planet a Pale Blue Dot and this became the title of a book in which he aimed to bring astrophysical discoveries closer to people from different fields. The passage in which he draws attention to our arrogance and lust for power which are responsible for destroying the tiny but unique place we call (and according to our present knowledge can only call) home, is one of the most touching and though-provoking warnings of its kind. He writes: “The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.” If nothing else, it makes you sigh with regret and pity for hundreds and hundreds of years of bad human decisions.
There was no plastic-free July, no teenagers-led environmental activism, no celebrity-sponsored Netflix series on sustainability when Sagan already warned us “the Earth is the only world known so far to harbour life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand”. Neil deGrasse Tyson astrophysicist (Sagan’s successor in many ways) keeps reminding us that it actually is not important whether the world revolves around us, what matters is that it revolves with us. He argues that what makes us special is not that we are different but that we are the same. We are the same, all humans, one exceptional species, whose particles are all around in the universe, and most importantly whose grey matter seems to be the only entity that is capable of understanding how the universe works. We are the ones, through what the universe gets to know itself. There is no individual wealth and power that can be cooler than that, right?
When the task of figuring out the whole universe sits on our shoulders all annoying little problems along with conventions and man-made rules suddenly seem ridiculous. Just look up to the sky for a moment and think of all the things that gave you stress today. Then imagine galaxies and black holes, the Milky Way with our Solar System, the planets and among them that Pale Blue Dot. Imagine your tiny self on that dot and ask them: does what makes me suffer at this very moment, even matter at all? Does it matter that I made a fool of myself in front of my crush? Does is matter that one person hated my outfit, my music, my book or my way of talking? Does it matter that I messed up my presentation and got a D for once? Does it matter that the bus is stuck in traffic and the coffee is too cold? Does it? Do I really want to waste my incomparably few years of existence in the universe on worrying about things I cannot do anything about?
Why not spend a bit more time on being happy and grateful for the things that go well in our lives? Reading about astrophysics can help with that too, as it can make us realise the value of things we took for granted. If we hear about the breakthrough discovery of liquid water on Mars, we realise the value of our access to water here on Earth and we may even go on to do something for those fellow humans who do not even have that privilege. If we understand how difficult it would be scientifically to make another planet habitable for humans, how difficult it would be to grow a patch of grass the size of my palm on another planet, we immediately appreciate the incredibly diverse and rich plant- and animal-life on Earth and we may do more in order to protect it.
No individual power, no individual wealth, no individual opinion can matter so much as to kill members of our unique species and to destroy our home for it. The Pale Blue Dot and its citizens can only matter collectively in the great Machine and even then only some tiny bit. Hence I would like to close with Carl Sagan’s words: “It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the Pale Blue Dot, the only home we’ve ever known”.
G. Cs.
