what??!!
I watched a science show last night explaining that since the beginning of the universe to its end we have and always will have existed, just in different forms. Created from the Big Bang and exploding stars, as stardust we are incredibly rare in the craziest possible way.
I had to think pretty deeply to try and grasp this Concept…
Apparently we are made up of atoms created in stars 13.8 billion years ago (try comprehending this as 13,800 million years, that in itself is difficult enough). Once we die we then breakdown into atoms that carry on to become something new. We then assimilate into the soil or or get carried away in the smoke and fire of cremation, one day to be transformed into a rock, a plant, an insect, a new star for another 13 billion years or so. Ok, I admit, that’s pretty mind boggling…
My thoughts deepened that night…
If we have been created from an exploding star billions of years ago and one day to continue our journey forever into time then what makes my current organic body with a consciousness so incredibly special?
My true age Revealed!
I’ve found out that my body is a collection of 6.5 octillion atoms (that’s 6,500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) all had exploded from the big bang and from stars being spread throughout the universe. Apparently Hydrogen atoms are the most common atoms in the human body and all are older than 13 billion years. No new Hydrogen atoms have been formed since the big bang so now I know my true age. Some days I feel it more than others…
By Chance not choice.
Through an incredibly miniscule chance our atoms on their voyage through space and time came together and found their way to be part of planet earth. Over eons my atoms coalesced, formed and reformed until by some stroke of natures genius became part of a chain called organic matter.
So i kept on evolving.
Carrying on through evolution my atoms in these organic forms moved about, joined with other organisms, eaten by some, returned to dust, re-produced though others, changed by the earths weather and climate, natures constant upheavals. Of these same atoms many moved into a new form of life, the ape, then eventually to us known now as Homo Sapiens. An intelligence lifeform had evolved but this time with consciousness. (Which is in itself stupefyingly rare).
My ancestors carried on re-producing.
Atoms between ancestors merged and re-merged over and over until one day my Mum and Dad met, from a 400 quadrillion (400 trillion trillion) random combinations between sperm and egg I was born. During moments of their contemplation and discussion my parents gave me a name, which is not very rare…in fact my neighbour down the street had the same name. Wow, my head hurts.
So here I am…A Blog writer with a 13.8 billion year history.
I was born, so now I can think, I can do, I can love and hate, I can judge, consider, debate and create. With some of my deepest thoughts that night I now know that this story of mine has taken billions of years to write. I may now understand, yet truthfully I cannot comprehend the numbers in front of me at all.
During the early hours my aha! moment came to me.
If our atoms have always existed and always will then my time as a conscious being in a complex organic body is so short, so incredibly miniscule that it represents time I exist as small as flash of lightning that came and went in a thousandth of a second. We are all that incredibly unique and special. Yet I reckon we are so oblivious to this we squander the chance to understand that we have the consciousness to know we exist.
I had to dwell on this even further…I think I ran out of brain cells trying to think this through. Maybe it was easier for Einstein but I persisted! More coffee spurred me on…
Then, before the sun came up, I came to my conclusion.
It’s easy to dismiss all of this, just to get on with life and think nothing of it except how to pay bills, put food on the table and a roof over your head but if you can, just try to contemplate YOU, at least for today.
No, really, try it, this may be life changing.
So, if you’re considering what to do with your life, to travel, start a business, help your community, get married, sail the world, have children, build your dream home, move countries, start a new career then if you have the means, do it. Don’t delay, whatever your age. Before your atoms carry on regardless, into the future, in whatever form, seize the most amazing thing you have right now…Life.
As Tommy Hafey, a famous Australian football coach would say, ‘you’ll have plenty of time laying on your back’. I think he missed the real point –
You may be here forever yet also not for long.
Quote by me.
Here is a great summary from the Huffington Post on the likelihood of you being born.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/probability-being-born_b_877853
