I have a vague and somewhat jumbled memory from my youth that has none-the-less inspired me and my spirituality till today. The memory is of watching Cosmos hosted by Carl Sagan. While a show about science, it was one of my first truly Universal spiritual experiences. I can still chuckle repeating the mantra, “Billions and billions and billions” in conversations.
Cosmos was where I first became an ardent fan of the genius of Albert Einstein. With Dr. Sagan’s explanation of Relativity I saw doors opening to what I would later see as the larger Universe about us. And with his introduction I felt a kinship with souls who looked up to the sky and wondered how truly vast it was, not just is distances, but in possibilities and imagination.
What I now see as a small spark of enlightenment within my life came from an episode entitled, “The Lives of Stars.” The episode states at the start Sagan’s rather profound statement, “If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” I have always taken this as partially a joke, partially a profound and thought provoking philosophy.
I also laugh now, as this episode introduced me to the word “Googol” (google), a very large number; ten to the power of one hundred. Carl Sagan explains about how vast the empty spaces at the atomic level are. He then explains there is also a Googolplex, ten to the power of Googol. A one followed by a googol number of zeros. My mind begins to race. And this is where I begin to feel the awesome power of the Infinite. The power of Googol exceeds the number of atoms in the universe. But, compared to Infinity, a Googolplex is as close to reaching Infinity as the number 1. We stand on a brink between the Infinitely small and the Infinity large and can never see the end in either direction. And yet, here I sit in my room typing these sentences. Knowing, but never able to comprehend the scale of existence I am a part of.
No comments:
Post a Comment