Colliding galaxies (photo from Hubble telescope)
Breathtaking! A few years ago my first thought would have been that this is the fingerprint of God. Maybe it is; maybe it’s not. I’m not able to answer that anymore. My first impression on seeing this image today is that we are looking into a mirror at a reflection of ourselves.
I’m in complete awe of the beauty and grandeur of the universe. It is inadequate and inconceivable to even say that it is big. I highly recommend you read this article just to get some perspective on our place in it: Window of Possibility: Why the Hubble Ultra Deep Field is the most incredible photograph ever taken.
When we see images like this, we cannot even begin to appreciate the significance of them. This image captures the birth pangs of our mother. This is where we all came from. We are the children of stardust, whirling and colliding in massive and spectacular beauty. All life as we know it has this common ancestry.
My 3 year old son was looking at family pictures yesterday. Some of them were taken before he was born with only his mommy, daddy, and older brother. He got very sad and asked where he was and why he wasn’t in the picture. It was a temporary dilemma of sorts for him to imagine that there was a time when he was not, just as it is sometimes difficult for us to imagine a time when we will not be any longer.
Perspective is what is lacking in our culture today… macro perspective. We have none beyond our own narrow selfish interests. Life is rare, precious, and beautiful. Every day, every moment, and every person in ours should be cherished and celebrated. The world and all those in it are not ours to exploit or to ruin. They are ours to love.
November 9, 2007
Lyndon
1 responses to “The universe looking back onto itself”
barryweber
November 14th, 2007 at 07:27
It is sad, at this point, for me to know that there are those who see photos like this and are forced to cram them, along with EVERYTHING else into a 4000 year old envelope.
I have a row of clam fossils in front of me that had been fossils for 100 million years (at least) before our oldest known ancestor- Lucy- died and became fossilized herself (1.7 million years ago) But even those fossils (if they’d had eyes and telescopes!) could have looked up and seen pretty much this same galactic collision occurring, in a kabillion light year earlier version.
That awes me. It also makes the stupid, f***ing, humanly drawn lines between people and everything else, fade fast into insignificance. God may be Our Daddy, but this IS a picture of our Mom (or one of her many sisters). It is she who I am a part of and always will be. Right now I’m conscious of that fact. And it is so much fun!