Pale Blue Eye

I've been watching some videos on the earth, universe, and cosmos.

One of these videos called "The Privileged Earth," put together from current scientific research, shows further evidence that the earth is not just the Sagan-esque "Pale Blue Dot" that the 1970s wished to teach us. Without going into much explanation, suffice to say the argument put forth is that...

"The most habitable places in the universe also offer the best opportunity for scientific discovery. I believe this implies purpose." ~ Astrobiologist Guillermo Gonzalez

In other words (although, he said it very clearly the first time), our universe is not only finely tuned to support life, our very position in the galaxy and the universe is also finely tuned to support this place for life. Not only that, but we are in a rare and intensely unique position for observation of the universe.

For instance, if we were not positioned perfectly between two arms of the Milky Way, but instead were nestled into one or the other, there would be too much cosmic dust and star clutter around us for our distinguishing other galaxies from our own. Also, our galaxy is unique in that it is very flat so as not to impede our view of the rest of the universe. Also, the earth's atmosphere is uniquely clear (as opposed to other atmospheric planets) so that we are able to observe the universe clearly. Also, the size of the moon and the sun during a solar eclipse are almost perfectly the same to our eyes, which allows us a privilege of observing the sun's atmosphere which helps us to understand the makeup of the sun and other stars. Also....other things...

I hadn't thought about all that before.

Something else:

One of the special features on this particular DVD is titled "Journey to the edge of the universe," and takes you on a CGI journey from earth to the outer edge of the known universe. Being a nerd, I love seeing all those stars and supernovas zooming past...

Then something hit me.

In the main portion of the video, the scientists came to a conclusion that if we are positioned in such a great place, not only for Darwinian acts such as procreation and base survival, but also in a position for observation for curiosity's sake--a completely unnecessary skill for survival--then that fact implies that perhaps we are supposed to reach out from our unique life-sustaining planet, study the beautifully simple laws of the complex universe, study the outer regions of the universe, and perhaps further realize our purpose for being in this specific position.

Consider this: If we (facing Earth) traveled at the speed of light toward Alpha Centauri, we would hit Mars in four minutes. If we arrived (still facing Earth) at Alpha Centauri, it would take us five years. Further travel would then take us 100 light years just to get to the point of seeing the patterns of light and dust from the two arms of the Milky Way converge. That's as far as we would get in 100 years. And that's without traveling back to the earth to share our findings, you realize.

We haven't yet built any spaceship capable of traveling at the speed of light, let alone sustaining our lives within it traveling that fast. We came to these light year conclusions based on mathematical systems that we figured out and super telescopic cameras we put in space from the safe confines of our little planet.

This is what hit me: we are the only known species of beings that can observe the universe from our little pale blue dot in the sky. Our planet is very like an eye. We were made to observe outwardly, yet....we are incapable (at least for the time being...until we learn to travel faster than the speed of light) of physically traveling outside our very galaxy.

It seems, therefore, that Something wants us to look outside ourselves, yet--at least for the time being--wants us to remain on this lovely finely tuned, uniquely beautiful planet.

Perhaps our best work is supposed to be done within.