The Gaze of Eternity

 As per usual, I would like to first recommend some musical meditation that may enhance your experience. It enhanced mine in the writing process, essentially opening the veil which covered this thought, so it may do the same for you. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtQM3GNR7vs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA9CCs_YZfw

Every single thing you see today in existence is purely permitted by every action that has ever occurred in our cosmos. This dates back to the incipient molecular structures that gradually became more elaborate and complex in the heart of stars, only to be dispersed later when that star exploded. You could go sooner, perhaps into the era of the Homo Erectus; a predecessor, perhaps, to our own species. A species responsible for the inception of tools, which were only constructed because the primate structure is very efficient and agile in the tree’s, but after long exposure to flat ground which almost demands an upright posture to see distance and detect predators while maintaining a manageable body temperature, this structure becomes frail, slender, even ineffective in many regards. A human just simply cannot match the claw strength and sharpness of a lion or the speed of that lion, no matter the training. But simply inventing a tool which not only extends further than a lion's arm but is also sharper and heavier, solves this problem rather quickly, once, of course, you develop the skillful handling of that weapon required to use it. Let’s say the Erectus who first, albeit very crudely, constructed a weapon , never existed. His parents were killed young because that predatory chase they had as kids didn’t end very well, not as it did when they survived and went on to propagate their genes, permitting the existence of the first tool-maker. Or let’s say an asteroid impacted the area which was hospitable to the erectus, thus plunging it into a chaotic episode of calamity; the sun becomes blocked by the cloud of ash, the ground becomes desolate and uninhabited. Your existence wouldn’t happen but eternity would keep on keeping on.

Which leads me into my next train of thought, medieval philosophers used a brilliantly beautiful word to capture this idea, they would refer to it as “Sub Specie Aeternitatis” which in English means “Under the Gaze of Eternity.” A beautiful and elegant way to assume an objective view over yourself and the entire Earth, this concept alone is responsible for more existential angst than any other existential worry. Under the Gaze of Eternity you can see yourself as one microscopic speck amongst billions, perhaps trillions and trillions and trillions if you zoom into the microbial life that inhabits every centimeter of Earth. Under the Gaze of Eternity you are essentially a microbe. For me, this invokes a tremendous amount of gratification but also philosophical wonder into my being. It enables me to truly feel myself as the cellular colony that I am. I am, we are, fundamentally just macroscopic expressions of microscopic entities or organisms. We’re not a macroscopic figure, we’re an intricate puzzle which functions in absolutely perfect harmony unremittingly  through each day. The simple act of remaining cognizant while sitting even requires a tremendous amount of intricate interactions within us. The Gaze of Eternity, or the Grip of Eternity, has within it, a functioning, somewhat autonomous fragment of itself, perpetuated by eternity for eternity. When you die, you are recycled into this vast eternity which surrounds us and will continue to surround us, forever.

The Gaze of Eternity empowers me and I’ll offer a tool I used to receive empowerment through it rather than angst and fear. In conjunction with philosophy, science has offered the cure to existentialism. Scientific inquiry has confirmed that we are in fact “star dust,” we ourselves are fragments of this eternity. In some form, you will persist after death. Your molecules will be transferred and recycled through endless cycles of birth, death and then re-birth. Now, I’m not asserting that “You” will be there to experience it; my molecules will not cause “Kyle” to be reborn in another body. But in some form, I’ll be there. Perhaps my molecules will even travel through-out the entire cosmos, going beyond Earth. Perhaps they’ll even be hurled across the galaxy through some cataclysmic event, inseminating an Earth-like planet that forms around a star formed off the recycled molecules of our earth and sun. When you combine these two arts of logical thought and inquiry, you can arrive at some deeply stirring conclusions about the universe and your position within it, ultimately providing eternal empowerment. Philosophy and Science are indispensable cognizant tools, allowing us to not only find a place and role within this cosmos but comprehend the cosmos itself.

Under the Gaze of Eternity there exists an ape who has transcended his/her barriers, creating symbols to represent vast cosmic phenomenon, both through linguistic symbols and mathematic symbols. These symbols enable a deep understanding of the cosmos, us and our position in the cosmos. Our symbols unshackle us and allow us to delve into deep realms which are only permitted through symbolic proficiency. I am sitting in one position, I haven’t moved since I started writing this, but I haven’t been in this chair. I’ve been in a mental trance as my fingers dance on a keyboard to form these symbols which fully communicate how I feel and what I think and then broadcast it to the world. Under the Gaze of Eternity, there exists an ape who understands that he/she is under the gaze of an infinite cosmos. That ape, in every fundamental sense, is also a fragment of that cosmos, enabling the cosmos to contemplate itself, to quote the great Carl Sagan. The Gaze of Eternity is gazing on the gaze of eternity; my eyes are gazing onto the cosmos as it gazes upon me, and as it gazes upon you as you read this.