You move even when you sit still. You live on a planet that rotates as it revolves around its star. The star carries it around the galaxy. The galaxy carries it within the local group of galaxies. The local group of galaxies moves in unison toward a distant attractor. Yet, there you sit, physically unable to feel any of this motion: At Earth’s equator the rotation is more than 1,000 mph; the orbital speed of our planet averages nearly 70,000 mph; the sun’s motion around the galaxy is more than 7,000 mph; the galaxy’s motion toward neighboring Andromeda is several hundred thousand mph; and there are other unfelt motions in the mix. Dizzying, isn’t it? No, not really, because you are unaware of the motion. Not even your inner ear is aware. You feel balanced and comfortable in your ignorance of the changes that envelope you.
While all that motion occurs, you move emotionally with the human cosmos, you know, that collection of relatives and friends for whom you care deeply. Like all those celestial bodies, you are caught up in movements of their lives and swept along in unfelt changes until some turbulence or acceleration calls your attention that you are not where you once were. Those once dependent on you have all the while been moving toward independence.
You have choices here. One of those is to accept the movement and realize that it is this very kind of motion that led to your own independence. You can rejoice in discovering change in a human cosmos. You can also marvel that in all the intertwined motions there is a unity that connects you and yours. You travel a great distance with all the “bodies” in your world. As separation occurs, you know that your journey has been fortunate: For a brief time in a vast universe you and others traveled in the same direction in close and interdependent proximity.
You will reach a time to watch them depart to become bright distant objects whose light, though distant, still shines on you and reflects your time together. They will do all right in a changed universe just as you did all right when you broke free from those who traveled with you.
Eventually, you arrive at a time when your own motions can bring you joy just as you found joy when you were bound to the motions of others.
While all that motion occurs, you move emotionally with the human cosmos, you know, that collection of relatives and friends for whom you care deeply. Like all those celestial bodies, you are caught up in movements of their lives and swept along in unfelt changes until some turbulence or acceleration calls your attention that you are not where you once were. Those once dependent on you have all the while been moving toward independence.
You have choices here. One of those is to accept the movement and realize that it is this very kind of motion that led to your own independence. You can rejoice in discovering change in a human cosmos. You can also marvel that in all the intertwined motions there is a unity that connects you and yours. You travel a great distance with all the “bodies” in your world. As separation occurs, you know that your journey has been fortunate: For a brief time in a vast universe you and others traveled in the same direction in close and interdependent proximity.
You will reach a time to watch them depart to become bright distant objects whose light, though distant, still shines on you and reflects your time together. They will do all right in a changed universe just as you did all right when you broke free from those who traveled with you.
Eventually, you arrive at a time when your own motions can bring you joy just as you found joy when you were bound to the motions of others.
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