Observing the world and creating mental models for how things work is probably one of the oldest human pastimes. One could argue that it is not only a fundamental part of the human experience but a vital part of the process that took humankind from Stone Age to…whatever age we are in today. Our brains are hardwired to take stimulus in through the senses and categorize all of the data coming in. We cannot help but try to make sense of the Universe with every breath, with every heartbeat.
What we know and believe about our Universe is based on observation. Our own observation is important, but the accumulated observations of all of humankind, across all of the ages, are just as important. One of the gifts of humanity is this collective storehouse of information. We don’t have to learn everything for ourselves. We don’t have to observe everything ourselves. There is a certain body of knowledge and understanding that we can tap just by virtue of being a member of the human race. Throughout human history, the volume and accessibility of knowledge, of data and information, has increased to the point that there are few things that require us to actually experience them for ourselves in order to understand them at least a little bit. It’s a double-edged sword, for sure, but it’s a miracle of our modern existence.
And, yet, much of the richness of life comes from firsthand experience. We can take esoteric, conceptual, theoretical knowledge and create our own ideas about what it must be like to experience a wide array of things. Ultimately, though, the Universe gains texture and perspective when we test the models we build in our heads. For example, we know small things make big things. We know that atoms make molecules. Molecules bind together to make…well, everything. The atoms themselves appear to be made of small stuff, and the smaller stuff appears to be made of yet smaller stuff. The big things around us form bigger things, and the bigger things appear to make up yet bigger things. Stuff and things, big and small. And we can observe it all.
Every beat of the heart, every breath drawn into the lungs, represents a small thing that, when strung together with other small things, makes up big things. The small moments of our existence…the loving caress, the tender moments, the connections between people, the heartbreaking tragedies…make up the bigger narrative that is a life. Each seemingly small, insignificant life is woven into a vast, unbreakable tapestry that stretches back to a past we cannot see and forward to a future we cannot fathom. We may be small on our own, but all small things make big things. Together, we are Humanity, capitalized, and we are inextricably, irrevocably, undeniably interconnected.
The atoms in your finger move planets on the other side of the Universe. Your heartbeat fuels the fire in distant stars that no longer exist. To understand our place in this Universe, on this planet, in this moment, we need only embrace the answer to the question of “Why am I here?” The answer is found in small things that make big things.
The question, it turns out, isn’t asked by us. It is asked of us. The answer to the question is ours to build from all the small things at our disposal.
Illuminate Possibilities 