Inside the Pale Blue Dot.

In his book, The Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, Carl Sagan writes:

“From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it’s different. Consider again that dot.

That’s here.

That’s home.

That’s us.

On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”

Technology has certainly caused our world to become far more accessible. Gone are the days in which faraway lands are limited to the bindings of a book. And, the atrocities of our human condition relegated to the ‘barely imaginable.’

Indeed, our world is much ‘smaller’ now – compact, cozier, pulled together. And though, we’re never more than a few keystrokes away – at times, it seems, communication has become nearly impossible.

“The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena.” he continues. “Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.”

In the Buddhist practice of ‘touching the earth’, we are able to return to our roots, so to speak – to connect with the spiritual energy of our ancestors, and realize that we are never alone.

In touching this Earth, we release our ideas of separateness to embrace our place in this much greater whole.

A single point of light within a “vast cosmic arena” – on a pale blue spinning dot, on the only home we’ve ever known

To touch the Earth is to become humbled once again; with hearts drawn wide-open to the plight of all living beings.

It is perhaps, one of the greatest lesson of our teachings – that we are indeed one, and not ever alone.

Namaste.

About

Tara Lemieux is a mindful wanderer, and faithful stargazer. Although she often appears to be listening with great care, rest assured she is most certainly‘forever lost in thought. She is an ardent explorer and lover of finding things previously undiscovered or at the very least mostly not-uncovered.

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2 Comments

  • This is a wonderful call to the very ground we arise from and return to – simply delightful and emotionally stirring. Blessings, Tara.

    • Thank you, Matt ~ sending my love to you dear. Now, off to do something wonderful for another living being – and, isn’t that the reason why we’re all here?

      xoxo

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