A Therapeutic Journey by Alain De Botton might be the most impactful book I will ever read, as far as its effects on my general outlook.
Today, in Australia, as we witnessed something peculiar beyond our planet, it’s a reminder for me to take deep solace and consolation in astronomy as I reflect on one of my favourite passages from the book. Here it is;
“The best consolation for our sadness at how little ever works out is to cheer ourselves with the thought that the average stable lifespan of a star is only 8 billion years and that our sun has already burned for just under half of that. Soon enough, this middle-aged star’s increased brightness will cause our oceans to evaporate. It will then run out of hydrogen and become a giant red star, expanding as far as Mars and absorbing the whole of our planet, including the atoms of everyone and everything that is annoying us so much today.
We should drown our tears in the ocean of suffering to which every living thing is subject. We should align our feelings of purposelessness with detailed news of the five mass extinctions to have already befallen the planet. To every reversal, we should simply answer that there are 40 billion planetary systems at large in our galaxy. Before every anxiety-inducing date or speech, we should mutter to ourselves, like a talismanic prayer, that the Milky Way is 100,000 light years across and that the most distant known galaxy is GN-z11, 32 billion light years from the restaurant or conference centre.
The melancholy mind often suspects that everything may be a bit meaningless. Through astronomy, we can discover, in the most engaging and inadvertently life-affirming way possible, why and how it truly is exactly that.”
A few reflections of my own;
Astronomy bares almost comical reminders of my impermanence, insignificance and irrelevance to the happenings of the universe. I find this to be quite a liberating train of thought.
If our existence is truly meaningless, I shouldn’t despair but rather think of the opportunity I have to find meaning in my own experience.
I’d better try and enjoy myself.