Light takes 8 minutes to pass from the sun to the earth. It takes about 5.3 hours to get to Pluto. The light that falls onto the Earth is created in the core of the sun and that light takes about 100,000 years for the light to go from the core to the surface of the sun. That light is old.
Light takes about 6 minutes to reach the planet Venus, and appears as a bright point of light over the horizon in the morning or evening twilight. We usually see Venus this way because the orbit of Venus is closer to the sun than Earth, so it orbits inside of our orbit.
Venus travels at an average speed of 78,341 miles per hour, or about 21 miles per second. Light travels at about 186,000 miles per second. Even as fast as light travels, we're still only getting an approximate location for Venus in the night sky. When the light from Venus enters our eyes, we're only seeing where Venus was, not where it is now.
Everything we see is evidence of the past.
Everything that we see is a reflection or emission of light. The sun emits light. Light bounces off of everything under the sun. Light travels so fast, that for us, what enters our eyes is the present moment. But it still takes time for light to pass from the object of reflection to our eyes. We have evolved to accept our perception of that reality as the present.
So I find it fascinating that some people put so much trust in the stars. Our sun (is it really "ours"?), is 92 million miles away. The nearest star after that is Proxima Centauri, a mere 4.22 light years away. That means that the light from that star traveled 186,000 miles per second for 4.2 years to reach our eyes. And when we see that star, we see it where it was 4.2 years ago. If you're into astrology this may present a problem. Or maybe not.
I didn't intend for this to be a dissertation on the stars, their positions and where they are going. I start writing to see where it takes me, not to take it somewhere. So let me see if I can get back on track.
I think for me, the most interesting thing about this concept of the present is that we can even make sense of it at all. Light takes time to get to our eyes no matter where it comes from. Everything is moving. Nothing is fixed, as much as you want it to be. Everything consists of atoms, and the atoms vibrate. The electrons in the atoms are always moving.
And what we think of as "matter" is, to a very high degree, empty space. To be very precise, matter, the actual particles that make up the sun, the moon the earth, and us, comprises 4 ten-trillionths of 1%, of everything we will ever touch or see. And of that, we're only seeing or even touching evidence of the past, for it still takes time for the signal from our nerve cells to reach our brains.
And even then, it takes a bit of time for our brains to process the signal from our nerves, interpret it, and then accept that as reality. That is what we call the present moment, when it is really just evidence of the past.
So when I see all of this happening, and I'm in it, and I happen to be experiencing it all, as the present, I have a feeling come up. Some people may call it, gratitude. I think that at least once a day, I can honestly say that I am grateful to be here. By the time I've figured all of this out, I'm just grateful that I can figure it out. I still have all of my faculties. Well, at least my friends and family would agree.
Somehow, all of what is going on in the universe, chaotic as it may seem, has given rise to life, my life and everything that I have right now. And I accept it all, without reservation. It is this acceptance that I have for the now, that also gives rise to happiness. Even if it is evidence of the past.
Write on.
Slogan by
:Plan B for Humanity
A basic guaranteed income in the context of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
A sort of political movie review: Star Wars: Rogue One
Happiness isn't getting everything you want - happiness is a skill
The opposite of love is not hate, it is apathy
A short but growing list of people I admire, who have helped me, and/or influenced me, my thinking and/or my posts:
