Mapping The Universe

Did you know that the Earth is the Center Of The Universe? Neither did I, but since "Center Of The Universe" may be somewhat arbitrarily chosen anyway, why not Earth, or even, why not You?

(An Earth-centered physical universe was explained by an astronomer hundreds of years ago by complex paths of the other planets. A Sun-centered physical universe was conceived later by another astronomer, and he was able to explain the same paths of the other planets much more simply. They are actually the same paths looked at from different angles. Either astronomer could predict future positions of the planets, but one explanation is easier to use than the other.)

Much has been made of The Physical Universe, and also of Reality, but perhaps these have been misrepresented. We sometimes think of The Physical Universe as The Most Important Thing; and we sometimes think of Reality is a single concrete immovable Truth about what everything means ultimately. But where have these concepts gotten us? We have rockets flying around (that's science) and we have nations (that's part of culture). Are you happy with that Universe? Maybe,but as for me, I am not completely satisfied. Is it the One True Universe? I doubt that.

Now I propose a different perspective. One of my initial questions is "What Do You Care Most About?" Whether you're focused on the here-and-now, or the cycle of life, or a religious perspective, or something else, you can choose what dimensions of the universe are important to you, and then of course you can draw a map accordingly. (A map of the universe was one of my early concepts this morning for this post, so I titled it Mapping The Universe.)

I find that the world looks a lot different depending on the state of one's personal life. When there'a a new human relationship or a death or divorce or breakup of a relationship or a change in religious faith, the world looks a lot different to the person. That's a clue to what's more important or less important.

I'll quote a famous person here: "Love never ends ..." and "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." These are from I Corinthians 13 of a Christian Bible, RSV, and the person quoted is the Apostle Paul. I had planned on quoting Jesus but couldn't find a good one from him this morning. I am not much fond of Paul but he does have this I Corinthians 13 which is so beautiful it could make a person weep.

Anyway, the basic idea I'm getting at is that there is a spiritual universe which is actually more important than the physical one, and this is true even in a non-religious perspective. "Spiritual" is just a lot of things that are not physical -- it doesn't have to be mysterious.

So one draws the map of the universe like so: put some dots on the map, like cities, except they represent people, and probably your pets and anything you care a lot about, but most especially those entities where there is mutual caring. Draw lines between the dots, like roads between the cities. The map can represent the geography of your emotional or spiritual life. I'm sure this has all been done before, probably in Facebook even, but it's a good idea, anyhow.

-John L.