# Photo of the Universe - Do you feel insignificant in the grand scheme of things?



## Em in Ohio (Jul 7, 2022)

"Photo shows the distant Milky Way star located in deep space about 2,000 light-years away in the Ursa Major constellation. At this distance, light that was emitted by the star 2,000 years ago is just now reaching Earth, giving earthlings a close-up glimpse of what the star looked like around the time Julius Ceasar reigned and Jesus Christ (purportedly) walked the Earth."









"A test image captured by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope in May. The dots with six sunbeams stretching outward are stars, while the other sources of light are distant galaxies." (NASA, CSA and FGS team)
https://www.accuweather.com/en/spac...ope-new-image/1213566?traffic_source=Connatix

https://www.accuweather.com/en/space-news/nasas-james-webb-space-telescope-new-image-of-star/1158850​


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## Paco Dennis (Jul 7, 2022)

I have often thought about how insignificant I am, but my significance seems so important sometimes. I think it is because we have a body.


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## Victor (Jul 24, 2022)

Image looks spiritual to me


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## Pepper (Jul 24, 2022)

The image is what I have seen in dreams.  No, does not make me feel insignificant.  The opposite, in fact.  Only significant people live in this!


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## C50 (Jul 24, 2022)

On a cosmic level we are nothing but a speck, especially at the individual level we are barely measurable.

They say the universe is still expanding but into what?  It boggles my mind to think about the edge of the universe.  The universe as we know it on this side so what's on the other side?  The idea of nothingness is more then my tiny brain can grasp.  But oh man do I want to see it!


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## Chet (Jul 24, 2022)

That light has taken millions of years to reach earth, so essentially we are looking into the past. I wonder where those objects are now and what they are doing. They might be heading back towards the center of the universe in the big crunch and we wouldn't know. We are doomed.


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## Gaer (Jul 24, 2022)

C50 said:


> On a cosmic level we are nothing but a speck, especially at the individual level we are barely measurable.
> 
> They say the universe is still expanding but into what?  It boggles my mind to think about the edge of the universe.  The universe as we know it on this side so what's on the other side?  The idea of nothingness is more then my tiny brain can grasp.  But oh man do I want to see it!


endless, eternal. forever expansion into multiverses unto multiverses.  never ending!  Beyond the ever-changing phenomenal existence there lies the unchanging, non-changing  absolute bliss of the absolute.  Our interpretation of linear time does not exist in the absolute.
"Nothingness" is a non-concept, created by fearing minds.  
Underneath the most subtle layer of all that exists in the relative is the Being. Not matter, not energy.  This is unlimited cosmic existence.
as always, IMO.


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## Gaer (Jul 24, 2022)

Don't ever think yourself broken or fallen or insignificant. Even the tiniest act has great significance.
You don't think so?
Try sleeping with a mosquito in the room.


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## Tish (Jul 24, 2022)

Compared to our universe, I feel like a grain of sand.


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## Alligatorob (Jul 24, 2022)

The Universe is incomprehensively amazing!  Thanks Em, for the post and pictures.


Em in Ohio said:


> Do you feel insignificant in the grand scheme of things?​


No, in my world I am the most important, most significant thing.  On good days anyway...


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## Serenity4321 (Jul 24, 2022)

No, I don't feel insignificant...I feel I am so fortunate to be a part of  a grand magnificence


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## JaniceM (Jul 24, 2022)

Tish said:


> Compared to our universe, I feel like a grain of sand.


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## David777 (Jul 24, 2022)

Not "feel" but rather in certainty am.

Much less the Milky Way Galaxy or the entire Big Bang Universe or the eternal infinite 3D space of unknowns beyond, we all are born into a massive complex world where we are like an insignificant ineffectual helpless wood twig of flotsam floating down the Mississippi River.  Considering geologic time, we DNA organic human beings are also in relative existence for mere moments.

I've studied physics and astronomy, and marvel at our moonless night skies when out at places where it is actually visible. In fact, just a few months ago reread a fat college used astronomy textbook. The majority of people today live in light polluted urban zones that have pathetic night skies.  Here in California, our coastal regions even away from cities tend to have too much marine air water vapor.  Our best night skies are higher elevation areas with dry humidity east of the Sierra Nevada north of Bishop out into much of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau regions.


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## Meanderer (Jul 24, 2022)

I also have been created by God, and am able to carry a wallet sized "picture" of the universe in my pocket.....so no, I may have a slight edge on the Universe!


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## squatting dog (Jul 31, 2022)




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## Grampa Don (Jul 31, 2022)

If you are familiar with the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, then maybe you have heard of the Total Perspective Vortex.

"The *Total Perspective Vortex* was a machine built with the intention of showing beings the infinity of creation, which became used as a method of torture." 

Now, with our super telescopes it has become a reality.  The universe is so vast, we can't really comprehend it.  And there is the theory that it may be one of an infinite number of universes.  We are but a blip.  And, in geologic time, probably a very brief blip.


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## SeniorBen (Jul 31, 2022)

Gaer said:


> Don't ever think yourself broken or fallen or insignificant. Even the tiniest act has great significance.
> You don't think so?
> Try sleeping with a mosquito in the room.


Or a cricket.


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## Em in Ohio (Jul 31, 2022)

squatting dog said:


> View attachment 232179


Truly inspiring!  I already photoshopped my twin great grandsons over an image from Labyrinth... What's next?  I'm compositing them on this background, as they are _my_ universe!


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## Em in Ohio (Jul 31, 2022)

Grampa Don said:


> If you are familiar with the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, then maybe you have heard of the Total Perspective Vortex.
> 
> "The *Total Perspective Vortex* was a machine built with the intention of showing beings the infinity of creation, which became used as a method of torture."
> 
> Now, with our super telescopes it has become a reality.  The universe is so vast, we can't really comprehend it.  And there is the theory that it may be one of an infinite number of universes.  We are but a blip.  And, in geologic time, probably a very brief blip.


Digging out my copy of the book, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy! I'm over-due for a re-read!

As a young child, I remember nagging my father to tell me how much space we took up on my globe.  I really did want to know my place and space on our planet!  My father brought out my mother's assortment of needles...The pin point of the thinnest one is our entire city and more, he tried to explain.  Then, of course, I had to ask a lot more questions - like why the people on the lower half of the globe didn't fall off?  I really must have been a pain in the neck!


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## FastTrax (Jul 31, 2022)

I remember reading a blog about some amateur SETI eggheads babbling about the big bang theory, galactic expansionism, the probability of alien invasions wiping Earth out, yada yada yada then the technician that set up the powerpoint and some other technogeek video stuff said what if Earth is just a speck in some aliens eye and the ELE is nothing more then his finger wiping us out? Prolly had to update his resume but I wish I was a fly on that wall.


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## MarkinPhx (Jul 31, 2022)

Overwhelmed ? Perhaps. But as long as I make an impact on family or friends then I will not feel insignificant. The day I don't then I will feel insignificant. I know, trite answer but how I feel anyway.


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## Gaer (Jul 31, 2022)

When I watched the James Webb telescope photos on U-tube, I was gasping every few moments.  
On Flickr, the Goddard Space Center and the Marshal Space Flight Center also have intense photos.
These are the most incredible photographs I've ever seen!
Think of the intelligence, the organization, the expansion of multiverses upon multiverses beyond our little sphere!
It's beyond comprehension!  
How anyone can look at those photos and not believe in the Absolute, creative intelligence outside ourselves,
that our soul goes on forever, evolves into higher and finer worlds,   well, you just CAN'T!
Those photos made my eyes fill with tears!  Imagine the entities, the aliveness, the love!


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## Em in Ohio (Jul 31, 2022)

FastTrax said:


> I remember reading a blog about some amateur SETI eggheads babbling about the big bang theory, galactic expansionism, the probability of alien invasions wiping Earth out, yada yada yada then the technician that set up the powerpoint and some other technogeek video stuff said what if Earth is just a speck in some aliens eye and the ELE is nothing more then his finger wiping us out? Prolly had to update his resume but I wish I was a fly on that wall.


I heard it said that our entire universe resides within a gas bubble in the intestines of god!  Talk about a humbling concept!


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## FastTrax (Jul 31, 2022)

Em in Ohio said:


> I heard it said that our entire universe resides within a gas bubble in the intestines of god!  Talk about a humbling concept!



Compelling


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## Grampa Don (Jul 31, 2022)




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## Warrigal (Jul 31, 2022)

Insignificant? Not in the least.

I feel very privileged to be able to know more about the universe than any of the people who died before I was born.
My significance lies in knowing that this planet, our home, is a very special place; the only place, as far as we know, in the entire universe where we can survive without a space suit. Our chance of finding another home like this one within travelling distance is zero.

Consequently I am required to protect my home planet to the best of my ability. That is my significance.


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## Judycat (Aug 1, 2022)

Do I feel insignificant? No. I am here. Too bad hairless primates.


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## squatting dog (Aug 1, 2022)

Em in Ohio said:


> Truly inspiring!  I already photoshopped my twin great grandsons over an image from Labyrinth... What's next?  I'm compositing them on this background, as they are _my_ universe!


Glad you got it.


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## spectratg (Aug 14, 2022)

C50 said:


> On a cosmic level we are nothing but a speck, especially at the individual level we are barely measurable.
> 
> They say the universe is still expanding but into what?  It boggles my mind to think about the edge of the universe.  The universe as we know it on this side so what's on the other side?  The idea of nothingness is more then my tiny brain can grasp.  But oh man do I want to see it!


Nothing there to see.


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## Lewkat (Aug 14, 2022)

Years ago, my son sent me a power-point called fantastic trips pps., and it is a fascinating show of just where we as a planet are in space.  However, giving a lot of thought of whether I am significant or not in the scheme of things never entered my mind, since I felt there must be a reason for our being.  Thus, no, with the OP's question, I am not, nor are any of us insignificant.  Ponderables re: the vast universe and our relation to it all are endless.  Space-time is circular as opposed to linear since what we see through our wonderful telescopes are all past tense thus, if we could observe it in linear time, or as it appears today, it would still be there but quite changed in appearance.  We live in linear time as we are a mass that changes forward as time marches on, but beyond, who knows if our significance is carried into other dimensions in space to either a past, or a future we know nothing of as yet.  

As I am, I am not insignificant at all.


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## C50 (Aug 14, 2022)

spectratg said:


> Nothing there to see.


And there lies the paradox,  by defining it as "nothing"  now it's something.


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## HoneyNut (Aug 15, 2022)

I don't think I feel insignificant when I contemplate the vastness of space, mostly just awed and happy to be here.  What makes me feel very insignificant is the vastness of time compared to my time.  Heck even just seeing that Merrill Lynch added a year 2070 target retirement fund this month makes me feel practically gone already, but compared to the sun expanding and the earth's water and all life being gone and then just the little rocky ball (assuming it remains) just floating in space forever...gee my time is so tiny.  
I try to feel better about it all by my molecules continuing to exist for a long long time, but that is cold comfort.  Like some of our molecules being stardust of an sun gone nova, kind of cool, but my time to use those molecules is too short.


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## JustDave (Aug 15, 2022)

Insignificance is a relative thing.  We are very tiny, but also part of something that's really big.  Similarly we are both significant and insignificant.  It kind of depends who you are standing next to.


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## SeniorBen (Aug 16, 2022)

I don't feel insignificant because of the vastness of the universe or the span of time. I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round. It's nice to be retired.


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