Life in the Universe

Compared to the body (our personal universe), that nerve nexus known as the conscious part of the brain - wherein consciousness has at least gained the beginnings of a foothold, tenuous though it is - could be viewed as Life. Life, in the Universe.



The body, for all intents and purposes is a gigantic machine -"alive" to a degree (but only "to a degree"), wheels within wheels within wheels - or, organically speaking, systems within systems within systems - each genetically pre-programmed to perform certain functions within very strict and definite limits, with slack and give-and-take - and well-lubricated - so the entire system doesn't freeze up. Cells grow and divide, and accumulate into larger and more sophisticated structures - not unlike galaxies, or star systems - and there is a very definite kind of communication between the systems, though at a very rudimentary, and quite physical level - unlike the brain/mind where it's form of transmission is electrical. That is, blood and lymph and chemicals and hormones are required to transmit these messages to and from the various systems. However, those mediums-of-transmission could be likened to earth-based vehicles, (in our particular case) requiring burnable-fuel-based engines, which therefore are limited in their relative speeds-of-transmission. Not much faster than racehorses, though today, 300-horsepowered-horses.



The conscious part of the brain, which is the electric spark-of-potentiality in all humans, from birth - though only when naturally developed to the point where the human can speak, both to himself and to other similarly equipped men - could be likened to Life in him: him, the body: body, the universe. Life in the Universe.



It is presumed by most today, that because Life on earth does indeed exist, and it flourishes everywhere - from inside the hottest and coldest places (undersea volcanic vents and arctic ice packs), as well as inside and outside the hardest and softest places (rocks and air), that Life must therefore be assured a long and prosperous duration, here and the Universe. Almost 4 billion years, the scientists tell us, Life has flourished on this planet, but only in the last 120 thousand, has the spark-of-potentiality mentioned above been viable, and perhaps, there is a reason for it, of which we are both not presently aware, and duty-bound to discover. (Homo sapiens sapiens - modern man, "knowing man", first appeared about 120,000 years ago.) Perhaps Life on earth had an "easier" go of it then, for 3.8 billion years or so - it's continuance assured. Perhaps, something happened, when it instinctively realized that more would be necessary to continue and prosper here, i.e., consciousness, thinking about existence, as distinct from just instinctively existing, as it had successfully done so many millennia before.



But what if, in fact, Life is no more than an accident of universal proportions - a coming-together of certain events, sizes of stars, distances of planets, circulations by moons, atmospheric conditions, etc. - and NOT a normal/natural event in Universes at all. This would not be all that surprising when you consider that within the entire planet, earth, there is only one creature with the capacity for intelligent and reasoned speech, and further, the capacity to drastically and dramatically change the environment. Perhaps, what he calls his "consciousness" is as rare an event even in ONE human (universe), as Life is a rare event in the only ONE universe of which we are cognizant.



Becoming fully conscious - as conscious as you can be - assists the great work alright, but the great work of Life, not some arcane system-of-thought revered by the sleeping masses even today.