A Thought on Existence

It is past midnight and I have just finished reading Contact by Carl Sagan. It is a task that has taken me about a month to complete (yes, you will find I am a snail of a reader). However, the pace with which one reads should have little impact on the experience itself.

I found this to be a marvelous book on the subject of the existence extraterrestrial beings and their initial contact with humanity. While I will not languish on the details of the plot (I will defer this to action on your own part), this book inspires in me a sense of how truly insignificant we are as extant beings.

For those who have taken upon themselves to learn of extremely rudimentary cosmology (accomplished simply by visiting Wikipedia), they will know that the universe in itself will not last forever. At least not in its current state. Gradually, the stars will die. Indeed, our own star which we call the Sun will fail and the universe will become a cold and dark place.

It must be strange for one to think (even accept) that one day we will cease to exist. I think it strange too, but beautiful at the same time. I am reminded by the song "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel, where Jeff Mangum sings at the end, "Can't believe how strange it is to be anything at all!"

The fact that we exist is something beautiful to grasp, but the fact that some things we are doing in our existence saddens me. Some of the things we do to each other are horrible, terrible and evil. But my heart rejoices at the individual uniqueness to us all, the differences in what we aspire to be, of what we hope to accomplish and how we make use of our time to the fullest here on what Sagan calls the pale blue dot.

To end this introductory post, I will include a quote from "Poem Number 1741" by Emily Dickinson which Sagan has included in one of the final chapters of Contact:

That it will never come again

Is what makes life so sweet.