Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Self-indulgence.

It has been said that, amongst other things, I’m a thinker. By which I mean, I think (quite a lot, really) about my, and our, place in the scheme of things. An existentialist, in other words. So I thought I’d share this with you before I get myself pumping a bit of iron, jump in the shower and go into the office to actually do what I’m paid to do. It seemed to sum things up nicely when I read it a while ago.

"When we contemplate the unimaginable vastness of the universe, the incredible diversity and complexity of life on Earth, the sheer tenacity of life to survive, the wonderful beauty of nature, we are filled with a sense of amazement. 13,000,000,000 years or so in the making, and here we are, wondering why.

In this unbelievable universe, with its 100 billion galaxies, each containing 100's of billions of stars, we inhabit a small world circling one ordinary star. One star amongst 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

And we wonder why."


You’ll have to forgive me for this… call it self-indulgence. I’ll get back to the more usual themes of sex/love/lack of sex and love/bikes shortly.

11 comments:

k o w said...

That was excellent.

Porkchop said...

*completely unrelated to post*

When I clicked over to your page after my long hard day at work, and saw your title, I almost audibly screamed like a insane person "DAMMIT! NO IT DOES NOT! IT JUST MAKES YOU GO CRAZY UNTIL YOU DO KILL YOURSELF."

But, you know, thanks for the reminder.

WDKY said...

Thanks... amazing,isn't it? When you think about our own insignificance, I mean.

Porkchop, you and I need to speak. Find Zen, you'll be fine.

WDKY said...

Guilty, your honour.

(That felt frighteningly familiar...)

WDKY said...

Okay, I have a problem... I can't post or edit, because nothing will publish when I tell it to. I also have a feeling that my comments aren't being tallied up.

This is worse than going out without you mobile.

kimmyk said...

have you ever laid on the ground and looked up at the stars and realize there could be something or someone doing the exact same thing some place in space and it's me they're looking at?

that's a cool thought to me.

WDKY said...

I will now, Kimmy!

Kai Wren said...

Nice one. Let's just hope that Douglas Adams wasn't right when he suggested that God's parting words to the universe were "Sorry for the inconvenience." That would go right through insignificance and come out way on the other side :D

PS: Take a look at Larry Niven's "Ringworld", if haven't already and have time to spare.

WDKY said...

Absolutely right! Thanks for the heads up on Ringworld.

Anonymous said...

right...so now im posting way too many comments..but as i read along i keep thinkin of stuf id want to say...so what the heck..i read this somewhere..not completely in sync with ur post but jus made me think of it..."has all this evolution been worth it?" ...just a thought...another....
"considering the million ways in which we can die, its a miracle we're still alive" the second ones by me...and no more comments for the day..promise..

WDKY said...

It's always good to finish with a quote. Especially one of your own ;-)