Do I Dare Disturb The Universe?
/All Our Comings And Goings
They say we're tripping the light fantastic, but maybe it's more akin to stumbling.
Our arrival on this planet is often marked with a bounce-landing.
Our Bodies Betray Us
With no lack of dysfunctional body parts, broken emotions, or minds lost along the way, we try our best to manage a slew of struggles. Betrayal awaits our bodies at every turn.
You're a brilliant musician like Ludwig von Beethoven – you lose your hearing.
You're a trompe-l'œil artist of great renown like John Haberle – you lose your sight.
You're a powerful "Superman" like Christopher Reeve – you become a quadriplegic.
To add insult to injury, the flesh of this world mocks us. Hovering over us at all times is the ultimate trump card marked Death. Given that our bodies hold the upper hand, you'd think they could be a bit more gracious.
Those who are strong today can just as easily be shattered tomorrow.
No one, nothing, escapes impermanence.
This Tarot Soprafino Death Card was created by Johann Elias Ridinger and engraved by Johann Jacob Ridinger about 1760.
Impermanence Is Raw
The word "impermanence" has a soft connotation to it. What's here today will not be here tomorrow.
"Oh, impermanence," intoned a bored lady in the room where the women come and go talking of Michelangelo (hat tip to The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, by T.S. Eliot).
"Yes, I am quite familiar with it," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand, as if impermanence were only a damp wisp of fog easily brushed away.
All Things Shall Pass
It's a cerebral topic of discussion in Buddhist philosophy. Like the sand mandala in the photo, Buddhism teaches us that all things will pass.
We get the impression that events are calm, even well-prepared, and then disappear.
In reality, impermanence is raw and visceral. It crashes down around us.
Impermanence screams in fear, whimpers in a corner, and rips our hearts out.
The serenity of a Buddha statue belies the stark reality of beginnings and endings that are violent and painful.
Perhaps You Think We Exaggerate
The National Geographic movie documentary, "Journey to the Edge of the Universe," catapults us into a wild and wooly cosmos.
When the ending credits roll, our eyes are wide with amazement and, if we're honest, a bit of fright. We're left with nothing to hang on to as we careen across inter-galactic space.
Nuclear Fusion And Black Holes
Nuclear fusion reactions are common and explode across space. Galactic energies collide and then coalesce. Deadly quasars of breath-taking beauty blast out jets of radiation from their cores.
Entire galaxies are destroyed. Vast universes are reborn.
The hypernova reigns supreme in lawlessness and destruction as the most violent star-death of all. Its core becomes a black hole that destroys and consumes everything, even light, that enters it.
All rules of physics collapse within the vortex of a black hole.
What exists when there is no matter, no time, no space?
Are we destined to become emptiness and nothingness?
At The Edge Of The Universe
Where do we go from here?
When we reach the edge of our known universe – what or where, is our consciousness?
In humans, hope springs eternal. We stubbornly cling to a shard of light. We clutch our chests even as the universe flings us into the far reaches of the cosmos.
In stillness and meditation, we sit, willing our hearts to beat even within the dark matter of the galaxy.
Do I Dare Disturb The Universe?
Meanwhile, back on Earth.
A great roar of noise is taking place all around us.
Do we hear it?
A bullet sears through flesh.
Bones are splintered in a car crash.
Trapped in a sudden cardiac arrest, a heart slams to a halt.
Every last dying breath of all-that-is calls out to – what?
But, do we hear it?
T.S. Eliot continues in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock:
“When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;
Let us go, through half-deserted streets...”
We move through our lives as if we, too, were etherized. We're aware of only a fraction of existence. We're smothered under multiple layers of veils. This numbed state keeps us blind and deaf.
It's Time To Lift The Veils
It's time to see again. Time to hear the many vibrations swirling around us.
We'll lift the veils, slowly and surely, with our meditation.
Eliot poses the question: Do I dare disturb the universe?
In one word... Yes.
