The tinyness of us to the enormity of the rest

It is easy to lose ourselves in the presence of the enormous universe. On the flip side, we are the enormous universe in front of tiny atoms and molecules. Between these two extremes, our identity is squashed. Do we know how to identify ourselves? Mathematical curiosity to quantify everything is a two-faced coin. It helps us to understand everything around us, but it is also possible for us to lose ourselves between tending to zero and tending to infinity. The smallest of small particles tend towards zero but are never zero. The largest of large galaxies tend towards infinity but are never infinity. So, numbers can be a problem because you can see yourself only relative to one of the limits, and depending on the limit you are using, you are either God or insignificant and nothing in between. Is that how we should look at ourselves and the universe?

Richard Feynman once said: “I, a universe of atoms, an atom in the universe”. I should credit Richard Feymann for inspiring the title and essence of this article.

Let’s not split the small and the large ends of the universe, because they are interconnected deeply. The gigantic stars that are billions of light years away shoot their photons in all directions. Some of them come towards the Earth as well. Obviously, the light gets weaker as it travels more and more, and eventually, a small fraction of those original photons make it to our eyes, so we know that gigantic star is there. Do you know what photons are? They are “tiny” massless particles (basically, energy) having no physical “size”. So, the presence of gigantic objects like stars is verified by tiny massless particles. So, every small unit in the universe is connected to every big unit, and they influence each other. And somewhere between all this mix, we also exist. Can we try to find our absolute place in this universe? But nothing is absolute in this universe. We all exist on a planet that we are calling the Earth, which exists in the vicinity of other planets and a star (Our Sun). There are much bigger stars than our Sun like UY Scuti and Stephenson 2-18 (The largest known star yet). And this entire system exists in a galaxy we are calling the Milky Way Galaxy, and likewise, we can zoom out more and more. However, we do not know what is the thing which encompasses all of this when we are zoomed out to the maximum. Rather, we do not know whether there is a maximum to zoom out because the universe is infinite. If you have read my older article – From zero to infinity, we haven’t moved at all – you will know from there that infinity is just a number that is so huge that we cannot reach the end of it. That doesn’t mean it has no end. It just means that maybe the end is beyond physical limitations and needs other forms of perception. But until we figure that out, will our place always be with respect to something or the other?

Credit: THE COLOSSAL GALAXY NAMED IC1101, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It doesn’t have to be that way if we change our viewpoint. If we keep placing ourselves in a group (whether atoms, molecules, people, planets, solar system, galaxy, supercluster, etc), we will always be bigger or smaller. Rather, let us be a group ourselves. We are a group of materials sourced from this universe, which is true. Every part of our body comes from all the components present on the Earth, and all the energy in us comes from some form of energy omnipresent in the universe. So, we are a cluster of materials and energies existing since the beginning of the universe, and probably even before that given that the universe didn’t really “begin”, but rather gets reformed every now and then. So, what does that make us in the absolute sense?

It means that we are the universe, and also a part of it!

With so many types of particles, energies, and forces coexisting in a universe of multiple processes occurring at the same time, every component affects every other component, which appears random, but is not. We are living in a universe of systematic chaos. There are two types of responses I get from people after I explain all this:

• Let’s just go to sleep. Why should I care about this?
  
  
• What is the purpose of my existence if I have to keep getting reformed in this universe?

My response to: Let’s just go to sleep. Why should I care about this?

It is one thing to live a mediocre life (Unpopular opinion: Mediocrity is acceptable), but it is an uninspiring life to live with no understanding of our creation. You may go around doing your everyday tasks of survival, job, and enjoyment. There are many who are doing that due to the existence of multiple systems of governance, economics, politics, security, and societies, which leaves them with little to no time for anything other than working out their basic living requirements before the day is over. But for others who have a choice of managing their time, does it ever occur to you that your consciousness needs a purpose to keep it from undergoing an identity crisis? Everything culminates in consciousness. Consciousness is the biggest mystery on this planet. We don’t know what it is exactly. What does being alive mean? Is it only medical? Does a beating heart define life? Is neural activity the only definition of being alive? Where and why did life originate? Why do we exist? These are the essential questions in life that humanity set out to find, and then set out to make our life on this planet comfortable so that we can address the former questions. But then, there is no end to finding comfort. For every electronic device created to make manual labor easy, there was a remote control invented to make access to that device easier. At this point, after getting entangled with comfort and vital sub-issues that got created as result, there are very few who are still asking questions about our origin, life, and goals as a living organism. While comfort is important, it is more important to understand why we even exist. If you think you exist to keep your body comfortable and enjoy life, would you be able to continue doing that at a time of crisis when you are not able to give yourself comfort or good health? In that scenario, what is the purpose of your existence if your body was the focus? This is when your consciousness needs a purpose. Then why wait until you are forced to come to that conclusion when you can already start asking the right questions?

My response to: What is the purpose of my existence if I have to keep getting reformed in this universe?

This is a simple question with a complex answer. The purpose of existence is something that everyone is searching for in this world. Like I said before, we can exist in a group with something, but we are also a group of something. And realizing that is the first step to understanding our place in this universe. But figuring out the source of our physical body is relatively easy because all the material is available on this planet and we are formed by physical processes on those materials. The hard part is figuring out what gives the physical particles the characteristics to behave the way they do? For example, we know that negative and positive charges attract, but what gives those particles those characteristics for them to behave this way? We have taken the characteristics of the tiniest particles as law. But while some things are taken as law, they also have a reason. And our purpose is to find the source of that reason. If you have read my article – Can we reach the unifying force of nature? – you would understand the purpose I am talking about here. If you haven’t, please go ahead and give it a read. I assure you that you will not regret it. In that article, I go over the scientific understanding of the forces of nature and how scientists are trying to find an explanation for the existence of those forces combined among themselves. Plus, I have given an understanding of how we can expect the presence of other forces of nature that we do not have an explanation for, yet. And finally, I have concluded with the idea of superimposition and consciousness, which validate the presence of all energies and matter in the universe as one true energy of the universe, which is one entire organic system in itself, including us. There is much more to learn here, but one has to start somewhere.

In conclusion, you have no reason to feel out of place or alone because this universe is your home, and you are formed from this universe. Everything you have as well as everything you want is already here. Point to ponder?

Be mystified! Be Priya-fied!