You Are Nothing, But You Are Everything
Finding significance in the grand scheme of things
Hearing that you are insignificant in the grand scheme of things might be upsetting. But once you understand the explanation, you are likely to agree.
“The human race is just a chemical scum on a moderate-sized planet, orbiting around a very average star in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies. We are so insignificant that I can’t believe the whole universe exists for our benefit.” — Stephen Hawking
While you might be insignificant to the universe, this actually plays to your benefit.
This insignificance sets you free.
And once you are free, you will realize that even though you are small, you are everything.
Sorry, Stephen.
Just how insignificant are you?
The universe has been around for some 13 billion or so years, meaning your life will account for 0.0000000005% of the universe’s life… so far.
And the universe is so big that the Earth we are living on covers less space in it than a piece of sand covers on the same Earth.
Feel small yet? Feel meaningless yet?
Your life is nothing but a blink of an eye in the universe’s life, and you are smaller to the universe than a single atom is to you.
So the truth is, whatever you do will have little consequence in the universe.
You can build an empire, write music like Bach, and gain a million Instagram followers, and none of it will matter.
Does this make you nothing? Maybe.
But this also sets you free.
Little consequence
The fact that your time here might be meaningless and the fact that your actions will not affect the universe mean you are free to do what you want because the consequences are not lasting.
In the end, the only person your actions affect is you. And again, you are nothing to the universe.
But you are something to you…
Your scorecard is now the only one that matters. Your actions only affect your life.
And before you go out and kill someone, that would also kill your life experience when you get locked away.
If you break a loved one’s heart, it may mean nothing to the universe, but you now have to live with this.
So while to the universe, you are nothing, you are actually everything to the only thing you have to live with, yourself.
The only reason you have any grasp on your insignificance is that you are alive.
If you were not alive, none of this would matter.
But you are alive; you are having this human experience.
Everything you do affects the only thing you truly know… yourself.
The only thing your insignificance tells you is that you are free to make decisions for yourself.
What will you do with this experience?
You are the only person who has the power to make this human experience one you enjoy.
The universe will not bend to your will, and those around you are unlikely to do much more than a favour (if it benefits them).
In other words, you are the only person you can rely on. You are everything.
Knowing that you are everything, you must take control of what you can and make the best of this whole thing.
Today, you have the choice.
Do you want to wake up and go do the same thing, expecting a different result to magically happen? Or do you want to take action and make the necessary changes?
Do you want to keep telling yourself you can start tomorrow, or do you want to do the damn thing today?
Remember, you are everything. The only thing waiting for you in your life is you.
You are free
This kind of responsibility is scary. You can’t rely on anyone, and you are the only one in control of your future.
This is also freeing, though.
You can keep waiting for motivation, or decide that this flicker of light that is your life will be well spent.
Keep repeating the same patterns, or try something new. The universe won’t notice the difference. Only you will.
You are nothing, but you are everything.
Thanks for reading.