Understanding the universe – a very short story.

Understanding the universe

A little colony of bacteria lives in the toilet bowl. Their lives are short. All they require is moisture and nutrient. They prosper and multiply for the conditions are ideal.

These microscopic creatures have consciousness and though they measure their lives in mere minutes they discuss the wonders around them and attempt to understand the world in which they dwell. They have their theories on the creation of their world, they have their philosophy of how to live and prosper. They believe they have an understanding of their environment.

At regular intervals a great darkness descends upon them and a gigantic shape blots out the heavens, nutrients are dispensed and all give praise. They believe it is their praise and ritual that is responsible for these gifts.

There is much conjecture as to the nature of this phenomenon among the bacterial elite. The dispensing happens regularly after many generations and replenishes the nutrients so that the colony can flourish. There are different factions who each claim to have the only answer. Some assert themselves to be ‘chosen’, some to have had personal instruction and some converse regularly with the benevolent deity. They claim the nutrients come as a reward for their devotion. They deride the others during their generations of drought. They blame it on their wayward ways and sins. It is the errant ways of the masses that results in punishment from on high.

The factions get into heated dispute and violent conflict. All are the only true disciples of the wondrous deity. They each claim to hold the key to the heaven’s bounties. They squabble and fight.

But then shit happens.

I can’t help thinking that humanity is like that colony of bacteria. In relation to our size and lifetime the universe, with its infinite scope, is as mysterious as the porcelain and posteriors; our lives are brief flashes in the aeons.

We are microscopic scum on the surface of a minor planet orbiting a mediocre sun in an unexceptional galaxy. There are more galaxies than grains of sand. Yet we dare to extrapolate and understand.

I fear the domestos!