Friday, September 7, 2012

We are the center of it all or so we think


We are the center of it all or so we think

You would think in the modern age that the age old idea of humanity being at the center of it all would have vanished by now. That with the Earth no longer being at the center of things, with it going around the sun, and with the knowledge that we are nothing special in the grand scheme of things would have changed our thinking, but it hasn’t. After 9/11 every American thought they personally would be attacked; myself I just didn’t consider myself all that special. It seems like the reality of the universe is to be indifferent to humanity, and yet we still act as if we are significant. Some people I know always lock their doors even when it is the safest neighborhood imaginable; it is as if they believe in their heart of hearts that the universe will personally  make a appearance, that the criminal or rapist or murderer will deliberately seek them out specifically out of all the people around them for that specific crime. Apparently, I think, people think that we are special in both evil and good acts, that it circles around them and nobody else, this luck this fate, and so they panic about what in reality has a insignificant chance of ever happening.  I think that it is this special feeling of being at the center of it all that makes us think we will win the lotto, or that we will catch a specific rare disease (a disease that in this metaphor  will have a insignificant chance of infecting them). It amazes me that they think that fate or God, or the Devil or whatever, would truly take a interest in little old them out of all the billions of people on the face of the planet, its them it will listen to. There’s a lot of examples of such self centerness, we pray for god to bless our country, or our sports teams; and we think that we deserve such special consideration. This is not a diatribe against a person’s faith, but in the application, really a God that is the god of all  mankind, of the entire universe will play favorites?   The lightning bolt will not actively seek you and only you, the hurricane does not act because of your beliefs; in short the universe does not revolve around you.   If you are a believer, then it is God that does not revolve around you, actions of things greater then you are not controlled by you. You are not special, except in the little world that you create.  So next time you are afraid of something, or are expecting something great,  get over yourself, you just aren’t special enough to warrant attention. Fear and expect things that at least have some reasonable realistic chance of happening, at least then who you are would be in proportion to the reality.

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