This internet image is a view of our earth, (arrow), from under the rings of Saturn.
Reminiscent of the famous Carl Sagan pale blue dot picture, this one, taken from under Saturn's rings, serves as a reminder of how unimposing our presence is in the unimaginably vast universe. Our physical presence. Our mental presence, however, is quite another story.
The fact that we are tiny humans on a microscopic piece of dust, located in the outer third of our Milky Way galaxy, which is one of hundreds of billions of galaxies, (and counting), does indeed seem unimposing to say the least. The fact that we have not only come into existence, but learned as much about the universe as we have in, cosmically, the blink of an eye is anything but unimposing. The fact that in another cosmic blink we will colonize the galaxy, (and in this author's humble opinion there's no doubt we will), underscores our significance in the cosmos.
So...should we be humbled and bowed about our lot, or throw out our chests and declare our importance? How about a little from column A and a little from column B? It's always seemed a good idea to not forget one's origins, no matter how humble. 500,000 years from now, who we have evolved into will be unrecognizable as a human of today. We will have surely gone not only to other galaxies, but quite probably the multiverse. Today, here and now, will be our origin. We should never give up our quest of improving and advancing the human condition, but at the same time not forget where we came from.
As the saying goes - "You should dance with who brung you."
Pat.
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