Beginning the Journey

I was listening to Adam Reiss, a recent Nobel prize winner in astrophysics who has discovered that the universe is expanding outward.

Apparently seventy-two percent of the of the universe is not even observable. Twenty-five percent of what is observable is Dark Matter which is not visible. That means we can potentially view only three percent of what’s out there. According to Reiss, even fraction of the universe is spinning away from us at an accelerated speed. We will eventually be truly lost in space.

I guess there isn’t much I do about the universe slipping away, but what I can control is how I interact with the tiny bit of the universe that I can perceive. One could argue that our own lives have the same qualities as a universe. We are oblivious to most of what happens in tiny fragment of our personal universes. And maybe that which we observe and acknowledge, but cannot process is a sort of personal Dark Matter. So, maybe that leaves us with just three percent of our little world to have knowledge of. And,now, in the autumn of life, I realize that my life is spinning away from me—not in a cataclysmic way, but simply spinning out and down. I suppose that could sound tragic, but I think it's exciting.

I can’t do anything about spinning out time, but I do have choices. The person interviewing Adam Reiss suggested that the scale of what we will never know is daunting.  However, uou could hear the sense of possibilities in Reiss voice when he said, “But the mystery of everything out there is just compelling!”

There is much more out there than I can ever know or experience, but right now I have more control over my life than ever before. I've pursued knowledge; I've attained financial security; and I've been blessed with family and friends. Now I have time to pursue wisdom. I can travel, read, converse, and think. It is invigorating to know that there will always something new to discover, to wonder over, to think about, and to enlighten me. As my personal allotment of time spins itself out I wonder--Will I become muddled, longing for what I has passed or what I may have missed along the way? Or the :mystery of everything out there" compel me in the pursuit of wisdom.