The Pleasant Surprise That Brought a Cosmic Perspective
Nepal, October 26, 2015
I woke up from a deep slumber and sat up briefly, when I noticed the interior of our yellow tent covered by a thin layer of frost. Henry was unbothered, tucked inside his thick sleeping bag beside me, while Romi and Dennis slept in a separate tent outside. It was the eleventh night of our trek in the Everest region of Nepal. We were camped at 5,200 meters above sea level, and in a few hours, we would start climbing the summit of this 20,000-foot high Himalayan mountain. The high risks involved in this adventure began to creep into my mind.
It was still the middle of the night but my bladder was pushing me to take a leak. The thought of the chilly wind outside made me hesitate but I somehow managed to slip on another layer of jacket, then I reached out to zip open the tent door. And oh, how grateful I was that I did.
I was greeted by a cloudless sky brimming with countless bright stars. My eyes darted downwards the cliff below and widened as I saw rows upon rows of towering snow-covered peaks, extending as far back as could be seen in all directions. To top it all off, the entire panorama was illuminated by a mesmerizing full moon. The juxtaposition of the mountains swimming in clouds below to the moon and stars above was so perfect, as if a photographer carefully placed them there for an award-winning snapshot.
I can only describe it as a spiritual experience, perhaps the most majestic thing I have ever witnessed in my life. That amazing image will forever be ingrained in my mind. I was awed, humbled, and liberated¹ by the grandeur, the reality of that landscape.
It was peacefully silent, just the sound of my piss hitting the snow below.
I think I spent a good ten minutes standing there, braving the infrequent gusts of cold wind, just staring and observing that rare, foreign scenery.
I eventually rushed back inside the tent, smiling.
I was not able to take any photo of the exact moment I described above. It did not even cross my mind at that time. In retrospect, it was even more memorable and had a stronger impact on me than my Aurora Borealis encounter last 2018 when I was so consumed with capturing a good Northern Lights photo that I might have missed half the experience.
¹ Why was this experience “spiritual”? Why did I feel awed, humbled, and liberated?
Whenever I witness nature’s magnificence, my mind is always taken over by a cosmic perspective. I slowly begin to grasp how small and insignificant I am, in space and in time. No matter what I do in my entire life, I will not change the fact that those stars and mountains have stood there for millions of years before I was born and will continue to do so billions of years more after I die. The vastness of the universe and the great distances of those stars is still something I could not completely wrap my head around. But at the same time, I know that these very atoms in my body, if we go back far enough, ultimately came from a distant dead star 4.6 billion years ago. These are the same star stuff that compose every other thing and being on the planet, from those beautiful mountains, to all the human beings who have ever lived. Moreover, every part of us now was once a part of some other thing, a dinosaur, an ancient Egyptian, maybe even these mountains. We will continue to live on as part of the future of this universe even after we die. Every particle inside us will be assembled to other things, maybe even part of another living thing. This gives me a sense of connection to the past, to the future, and more importantly, to the present. Even with all the human conflicts in the world, we are more similar to everyone else than we think we are, after all. For me, this is a comforting thought in its own way. It’s amazing living in a time when we know this much about the world we live in because this awareness is liberating.
Neil deGrasse Tyson’s words best describe how I feel:
“We have a strong urge to be special in this world. Don’t feel bad about this fact. We all experience this. The cosmic perspective undoes this urge to feel special. But it undoes it in a way that rebuilds it better than it was before.
Cosmic perspective teaches you that you are special not for being different from everyone else but for being the same. A cosmic perspective has the power to reset what it is you think is important in life, has a power to humble you but in a good way, has the power to have you recognize that the ego you had carried with you throughout life is unjustified in the grandest scheme of things.
That is a cosmic perspective…
When I go up to people, if someone happens to be a little depressed or their life isn’t going as they want it, I remind them that atoms of your body are traceable to stars that have exploded across the galaxy. And out of that scattered enrichment forms next generations of star systems that have the ingredients that will make planets. And in at least one planet, make human life.
Here we are on Earth. You wake up. You have breakfast. Go to work, go to school, take care of the home. We are a participant in an ecosystem. And so when you put all this together, you realize it’s not that we are here and the universe is there. It’s not that we are humans and everything else isn’t. It’s that we are a participant in the great unfolding of cosmic events. And for me, that gives a sense of belonging. That’s a cosmic perspective that allows you to sort of sit up straight and look around and say, I belong to something bigger than my daily routine.
That’s a gift of 20th century astrophysics to civilization. That awareness. That sense of participation.
You’re not separate and distinct from the universe. You are part of the universe. You are in the universe. The universe is in you.”
Neil deGrasse Tyson on “the cosmic perspective”
More here: https://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/essays/2007-04-the-cosmic-perspective.php
