By: Clarence Greiner

Awareness represents the first and least challenging step toward understanding. It’s a given that we know the Universe exists, opening a range of questions regarding its manner of importance, how it bears on earthly life historically, currently and in eras yet to come.

Universal magnitude and time spans are difficult to assimilate. Contemplating this vastness causes a sense of insignificance. Our planet is a grain of sand by comparison. 4.5 billion years ago Earth was a fiery ball of gas and during the time of this event the Universe was 10 billion years old and expanding, as it is now and always has been. So, where does humanity fit into this unfathomable span of time? Why and how are we important within this spectrum of infinite expansion and size? Some conjecture humans are irrelevant. Yet in truth we are equal in value to any particle of matter within the entire Universe. The Universe is an unbiased conglomerate, a unit unto itself, including human presence.

The crux of this essay’s theme is to relate human importance but also to highlight our brevity as a species on a universal time scale. Early Earth was a hot, barren, lifeless planet with no atmosphere. The sun was present and our planet traveled its orbit as it does today, but the sun was small and expanding. Our fiery planet cooled creating an atmosphere, raining thousands of years and forming oceans. From Earth’s conception until early life appeared encompassed 3.5 billion years. Sun’s expansion is responsible for all earthly life. This reveals universal pulsations are directly connected to our existence as time and universal activity yielded where we are now. Extrapolating universal cycles with humanity’s journey is a fascination. This comparison clarifies just how little distance as a species we have traveled. Vicariously viewing human historical timelines as a foot race we are still walking to the starting line. This may be difficult to accept as we grade ourselves as an advanced species. Anthropologists refer to present day humans as MHS (modern human species) with only a 200,000-year history. Ancient cultures date much earlier but as we function presently it is the modern human that is carving the future. If we have advanced to this point in 200,000 years imagine a billion years into the future. However, questions arise regarding valid definition of advancement.

Our current nemesis is the ubiquity of social dysfunction. Human development holds technical achievements high, flaunting them as success yet has lost touch with itself. Universal harmony is not emulated in modern times. We have fallen out of universal design, as the cadence of life shifts away from the spiritual power universal awareness offers. How many in today’s society look skyward each day? How many even think about universal magnitude and its influences? Urban life dominates becoming mired in variations of disarray. Thought process is trapped in shallowness, concerned about the price of gasoline or how much money we make or don’t make. Ancient cultures were extremely cognizant of universal importance and nature remains connected. Humanity pushes nature aside creating zones of human comfort isolating from cosmic rhythms. As a species we ignore lessons within nature’s structure, poisoning food with toxic chemicals, allowing farmers to extract higher profits, collectively exploiting every possible manner of fiscal gain to enhance our self-designed world. The looming questions are: Can we gain harmony and proceed as a species within the current design? Can we transcend negatives finding new direction, embracing the importance of natural earthly connections flowing toward universal emulation? It seems we must do more than invent clever devices. We must cease viewing war as a necessity, which offers no future benefit. Looking skyward and absorbing universal presence is essential to our future, which is also our responsibility.

Nature is a quiet, beautiful place, teeming with life in unprecedented balance and longevity. Viewing the spectacle of spring’s unfolding of new life caresses the soul, exhibiting the power and beauty of nature’s ability for renewal, adjusting with regimental purpose, aligning in appreciation of opportunity given by evolutionary energy. In order to gain the most for our planet and ourselves it is essential to expand universal consciousness.