Perspective

Posted on by Opher

Perspective

Like an ant on a leaf

                Contemplating what may be underneath.

Life is too brief.

Like a bacterium in a toilet bowl

                Trying to fathom some higher goal;

Stuck in a minor role.

Life, life is so weird;

                Stranger than we feared.

The universe is not geared;

                                                Understanding is never neared.

Space is so vast

                Though light is so fast

We see into the past

                                                But it leaves us all aghast.

Like a moth around a light

                Understanding the orbit of its flight

With all its might.

Like duckweed in a pond

                Thinking about what may be beyond;

It can’t abscond.

Like a human in his small life

                With work, child and wife;

The daily strife.

Looking for a purpose

                Above the daily curse

That doesn’t make things worse.

Life, life is so weird;

                Stranger than we feared.

The universe is not geared;

                                                Understanding is never neared.

Opher – 25.8.2022

Given the amazing size of the universe and the tininess of our brains it’s incredible that we understand any of it.

In the past we created religions and gods to make sense of what we fail to understand.

We’d rather believe in mysticism than reality.

Yet the universe has enough wonder without us creating layers more.

Life is miraculous enough without us imagining unreal layers.

We are no different to the ant, bacterium, moth or duckweed.

Understanding the universe – a very short story.

Posted on by Opher

A_Colorful_Cartoon_Man_Sitting_In_the_Bathroom_Royalty_Free_Clipart_Picture_100805-171486-069053Understanding 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!