[B]You will live for sixty to ninety years. [/B]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV0SOtfER_k[/media]
You are truly fortunate, for you live in a time of change, and the effects of communications technology and the internet are not yet full-wrought. You will see civilization evolve in your lifetime, and that is much to be grateful for.
Our species has lived on this planet for less than two hundred thousand years. Recorded civilization on Earth has existed for less than seventy thousand years. Our planet only formed from hot gases and star-stuff 4.54 billion years ago. The universe itself is young, and so is our galaxy - Both are roughly 13 billion years old.
Humanity will not endure forever. Earth will not endure forever. It is a guarantee that our species and our home planet will be long gone before the universe is old, and on some distant world in a star system far from us, a new, strange form of sapient life, still living in isolated tribal groups, will gaze up at the stars and wonder at what lies above.
Eventually, they will learn as they grow, and fight wars against one another, and have towering, glittering cities, political systems, philosophies and dogma, and they, too, will one day venture beyond the sphere of their planet's atmosphere, as we have done so recently.
The universe moves on with or without us, and we are altogether insignificant in its story.
Consider the vastness of our galaxy. There are around three hundred billion stars, many of which will have their own planetary systems, in the Milky Way alone. We cannot yet be certain, but if we consider that not one, but two sapient species evolved on Earth, then our galaxy may be buzzing with life.
There are estimated to be as many as five hundred billion [I]galaxies[/I] in our universe.
Consider now the short span of your life, and the short life of our species. Consider where we theorize it all began - With a massive explosion that set the universe in motion. What are we?
Our galaxy, all galaxies, are merely the glowing embers borne in the blast-wave of one explosion in the dark.
Over the course of this explosion, civilizations and species will rise and fall, alliances and enemies will be made, wars will be fought, heart-wrenching tragedies and countless stories of love, selflessness, and heroism will play themselves out, and music both crude and beautiful, borne on radio waves, will float out into the blackness and stillness of space, maybe to fade into silence, or perhaps be chanced upon by some lonely wanderer after its composers have long since been forgotten and lost.
The universe burns with energy still, but one day those embers will lose their heat and grow cold, and the universe will die - All will be ashes, darkness, and silence.
When you next go outside, look again at the trees, hear the songs of birds, breathe the free air, and think about all the beauty of mankind and nature that lies around you. Our species is but a tiny part of the universe's history, and our planet may escape notice entirely, but it has its own beauty.
Earth is a jewel in space, altogether unique, and from the beginning of time until the end of it, there never was, is not, and never will be another.
You've been granted life in this universe, and your life will be short.
Do not waste it.
GRATUITOUS
Or seen another way: An incredible series of coincidences in an incredibly long timespan just so made it that you're here right now. So yeah, that's pretty cool, go have a beer or something.
[QUOTE=Codename 47;40327784]Or seen another way: An incredible series of coincidences in an incredibly long timespan just so made it that you're here right now. So yeah, that's pretty cool, go have a beer or something.[/QUOTE]
Cosmic accident it may be, but that makes it no less beautiful.
How does one waste their life?
We're on a ball of dirt and we're all going to die.
[QUOTE=No_0ne;40327793]We're on a ball of dirt and we're all going to die.[/QUOTE]
We're like dung beetles being rolled about by the dung
deep or what
It's not really that fantastic that we're around to observe the Universe, though, because if there was ever or will ever be a Universe that cannot support life, then it wouldn't be observable anyway.
This morning, I noticed that a rogue nipple hair that I have plucked many times before had made a return. Without thinking, I grabbed the tweezers to remove the offender, but then thought, [I]"This nipple hair has struggled to breach the surface of my areola. I've plucked it by the root countless times, and yet it still returns. Such majesty, in this simple act of defiance."[/I]
I realized that, in a way, are we not all just rogue nipple hairs? For what is life without conflict? What are nipples without hair?
[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;40327842]This morning, I noticed that a rogue nipple hair that I have plucked many times before had made a return. Without thinking, I grabbed the tweezers to remove the offender, but then thought, [I]"This nipple hair has struggled to breach the surface of my areola. I've plucked it by the root countless times, and yet it still returns. Such majesty, in this simple act of defiance."[/I]
I realized that, in a way, are we not all just rogue nipple hairs? For what is life without conflict? What are nipples without hair?[/QUOTE]
I shed a tear.
[QUOTE=_Chewgum;40327792]How does one waste their life?[/QUOTE]
Probably by sitting at a computer all day, every day, growing fat and lazy and missing out on life experience.
[QUOTE=archangel125;40327859]Probably by sitting at a computer all day, every day, growing fat and lazy and missing out on life experience.[/QUOTE]
but you're living life all the time aren't you? or are you dead when you sit at the computer
[QUOTE=_Chewgum;40327906]but you're living life all the time aren't you? or are you dead when you sit at the computer[/QUOTE]
I suppose that's a matter of perspective. Still, one can argue that you're limiting the scope of your experience voluntarily in doing nothing but sit at a computer.
[QUOTE=archangel125;40327918]I suppose that's a matter of perspective. Still, one can argue that you're limiting the scope of your experience voluntarily in doing nothing but sit at a computer.[/QUOTE]
I wouldn't qualify communicating to people on the other side of the world at speeds faster than sound from the comfort of my bedroom as "doing nothing."
[QUOTE=archangel125;40327918]I suppose that's a matter of perspective. Still, one can argue that you're limiting the scope of your experience voluntarily in doing nothing but sit at a computer.[/QUOTE]
Or maybe you're embracing the best way of life you can have. You can't really judge quality of life by any objective parameters. Other than doing what you like.
I, however, agree that you should experience nature, travel, love and learn. But also sometimes sit at the computer all day.
[QUOTE=No_0ne;40327793]We're on a ball of dirt and we're all going to die.[/QUOTE]
You won't get anywhere like that, I ain't never dyin' I'll beat death so hard in his face ain't gonna know what hit him!
[QUOTE=No_0ne;40327946]I wouldn't qualify communicating to people on the other side of the world at speeds faster than sound from the comfort of my bedroom as "doing nothing."[/QUOTE]
No, I agree. But it still limits your scope of experience, in that you'll do a lot of reading ABOUT things, but less of actually experiencing them.
You Only Live Twice.
Once for yourself, and once for your dreams.
[QUOTE=archangel125;40327702]and music both crude and beautiful, borne on radio waves, will radiate out into the blackness and stillness of space, maybe to be chanced upon by some lonely wanderer after its composers have long since been forgotten and lost.[/QUOTE]
while poetic not necessarily true, eventually all radio waves will continue to radiate outwards until they are undetectable
[QUOTE=Yumyumbublegum;40328346]while poetic not necessarily true, eventually all radio waves will continue to radiate outwards until they are undetectable[/QUOTE]
Sort of edited and updated the OP for more atmosphere. At least, that was the music I was listening to when I wrote that.
I practice impermanence by spending days on chalk murals in my room ( I have a wall painted with chalkboard paint ) , inviting friends to come over and be included, then I erase them without documentation.
It's tough, but it's life.
[QUOTE=Alec W;40330711]I practice impermanence by spending days on chalk murals in my room ( I have a wall painted with chalkboard paint ) , inviting friends to come over and be included, then I erase them without documentation.
It's tough, but it's life.[/QUOTE]
You wouldn't be Buddhist, would you? The art they create and erase is what inspired my title.
Negative, I don't practice or follow any religions.
My friend is a buddhist and he told me about it so I tried it out, and it's nice.
[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;40327842]This morning, I noticed that a rogue nipple hair that I have plucked many times before had made a return. Without thinking, I grabbed the tweezers to remove the offender, but then thought, [I]"This nipple hair has struggled to breach the surface of my areola. I've plucked it by the root countless times, and yet it still returns. Such majesty, in this simple act of defiance."[/I]
I realized that, in a way, are we not all just rogue nipple hairs? For what is life without conflict? What are nipples without hair?[/QUOTE]
and much like how an earth without humanity would be much more peaceful, a chest without hair is far more smooth
You are not a cosmic accident. You aren't the end result. You are the big bang happening now. Before you existed, what makes up "you" was forged in the heart of a star, and shot across the universe. You are the universe. Every mere second you exist, you cause millions and millions of irreversible chemical and physical reactions to occur. Every time you take a step, you move thousands and thousands of molecules under your feet. Every breath involves a complicated, beautiful process in which you trade the content of your own body into the air around you. Every piece of dust that flakes off you goes flying off into the wind, the molecules being reincorporated into the very earth you walk upon and the plants that you trod over. Everything you see, everything you hear, and everything you do is a once-in-a-lifetime event that will never, ever be repeated.
You will not be confined into a black box on death. You will not cease to exist. You will not be sent to heaven or hell. Some say that fame is the only true immortality. This is false. When humanity disappears from the universe, when our sun blinks out, and when all of our dreams, aspirations, and efforts grind to a halt, what will fame matter? You are already immortal. Every action you make causes irreversible change to the entire universe. You are the butterfly effect. Every molecule that leaves your breath, every hair that you lose as you age, every lone flake of dust that falls from your skin, and every wave of sound that you ever speak, will move on. You are, and always will be, infinite. You are the universe.
Permanence.
For the most of us when we are dead no one will remember us after a generation or two.
Only as a group we were possibly meaningful.
[QUOTE=Falchion;40336384]
Only as a group we were possibly meaningful.[/QUOTE]
Meaning is subjective.
[quote]You will live for sixty to ninety years.[/quote]
fuck you i'm living forever
[editline]19th April 2013[/editline]
I'm not going to passively accept the lifespan and physical constraints that evolution gave me. Evolution is an idiot god, a dumb hill-climber, creating hack-job engineering solutions. The amazing thing about the human brain is not how it works, but that it works at all. We can do better.
It may be fashionable to deny, but (male) human brains have the cognitive structures in place that adapted to facilitate rape. Certain insects have specialized penises specifically for stabbing the female through the torso and impregnating her. The fact that the world is this way says nothing about the morality of it; indeed it means we must be very careful not to overlook the terrifying injustices that evolution has coded us to rationalize and overlook, such as death.
There is no law written into the fabric of the Universe that human life ought to last only 90 years or only 90,000 years. The only limit is the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and there's a couple of billion years to go before that becomes a problem. I reject the OP's defeatism.
[QUOTE=Rangergxi;40336538]Meaning is subjective.[/QUOTE]
so is everything, to varying degrees
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;40339896]fuck you i'm living forever
[editline]19th April 2013[/editline]
I'm not going to passively accept the lifespan and physical constraints that evolution gave me. Evolution is an idiot god, a dumb hill-climber, creating hack-job engineering solutions. The amazing thing about the human brain is not how it works, but that it works at all. We can do better.
It may be fashionable to deny, but (male) human brains have the cognitive structures in place that adapted to facilitate rape. Certain insects have specialized penises specifically for stabbing the female through the torso and impregnating her. The fact that the world is this way says nothing about the morality of it; indeed it means we must be very careful not to overlook the terrifying injustices that evolution has coded us to rationalize and overlook, such as death.
There is no law written into the fabric of the Universe that human life ought to last only 90 years or only 90,000 years. The only limit is the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and there's a couple of billion years to go before that becomes a problem. I reject the OP's defeatism.[/QUOTE]
I believe that mind-over-matter creates our reality for us. Therefore, life is essentially like the matrix.
If we believe in something so severely that no other option would be the truth, then that something becomes the absolute truth. And in truth, whether other people find it truth or not, we find our reality.
I've done many many tests on this over the course of my life. From willing the sky to rain, to making myself sick (and making myself feel better). Making pain go away and willing happiness onto myself and others. Even wishing good luck on someone is a form of this. Our minds have a massive reservoir of untapped electromagnetic/bioelectric/bioelectromagnetic energies that essentially amount to ESP. Everyone has it. If everyone on this earth were to tap into the unused parts of their brain, who knows what humankind could accomplish.
I spit in the eyes of fate. Fate is a made-up word designed by lazy people who accept that their life is what it is. People who just live and breathe and eat and die and pollute and waste and corrupt and suffer. WE design our own fate.
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