Got the following from an acquaintance in Texas who runs a newsheet/ training company/ webpage.
Some of his views are a bit off the wall and red-neck Texan and I've had to correct his USA view of Britain a few times.
We've had a few (mostly friendly) e-mail battles on matters such as 'why we need taxation' . Sometimes, though, he talks sense. This is from one of his newsheets.
You've heard the expression, ""the whole wide world."" We see the earth as an immense place. With a diameter of about 8,000 miles, it surely dwarfs a person (that may seem debatable, given how fat people are these days). If you don't think the earth is big, then just drive across Texas (and drive, and drive, and drive....).
The sun dwarfs the earth the way a large medicine ball dwarfs a marble. At 855,000 miles, the sun's diameter is more than 400 times that of the moon and 100 times that of the earth. In other words, it would take 100 earths side by side to reach across the sun.
And here's the sun, just a dot in the Milky Way galaxy--along with about 200 billion other stars (yes, that's the official count). The diameter of the Milky Way galaxy is so immense, it would take you over 100,000 years to travel across it at the speed of light. And light travels almost 6 trillion miles per year.
Are you getting a sense of our place in the universe? Doesn't this fill you with a sense of awe?
We are nothing more than tiny bits of matter (frozen energy) vibrating and interacting with other bits of matter. Every atom in your body has been around for millions of years, and parts of you have been parts of dinosaurs (maybe even dinosaur poop) and other living creatures. Nothing is permanent, and all is recycled.
What does this tell you about life? Does the idea that it's too short to waste come to mind?
Just thinking about the scale of things can help you clear your mind of clutter.
