About The Middle

Post 303:

            It’s remarkable, how many ways there are to look at the same thing. I’m not blessed with riches or fame or whatever other trappings drip from the lips of the “fortunate,” but I do believe there’s a couple things God put in my Go-Bag.

            The ability to see things from many angles. Now, a more pragmatic man might use this gift for some noble or grand plan. Not me so much. I tend to think rather than act, which I suppose is a bit of a waste—or not.

            Something else to think about. Great.

            It’s about where you are and where you’re not. I think this idea is one of the great lessons of life. Understanding the placement of oneself in the grand scheme is a task that one could set their mind to and never even scratch the surface.

            There’s a passage written by Pascal. He’s talking about how humans are stunted in so many areas, but not relationally. Let’s try to get at it: His idea was that people are crap, but they have one superpower. We’re all perfectly poised to see the very small and the very big. More important, to understand the very small and the very big.

            It’s totally arguable, but I read that over a decade ago and it still hangs with me.

            We’re right in the middle, is what he meant. Our bodies are a Universe, if you think of the billions of little cells and molecules, electrons, neutrons, quarks, whatever the hell else is going on inside. To an electron, we’re all powerful, and we should be glad. There’s a lot about us.

            We should feel really good about ourselves.

            On the other hand…

            How ridiculously small are we. Tiny beings on a tiny planet in a nondescript galaxy in a part of the Universe that means crap-all under any scientific metric.

            Poised, indeed. Take anything that we judge. Heights, weights, shape, on and on.

            Do you one better. Take something we judge subjectively.

            This is where it gets more interesting. How many horrific things perpetrated by your fellow man have you had to hear about or witness? Tons, if you’re awake.

            And then, and maybe this is just me, how many freaking awesome folks are out there? Again. Tons, if you’re awake.

            The point is that observation should do nothing if not humble the observer. It’s so much. Too much. Or perhaps, the perfect amount to get a sense of one’s importance and an equally large sense of one’s feebleness.

            Pretty sure this is what Pascal was trying to say. He said it better. But I’m a piano player from Texas. He was a damn French/Swiss (who knows) math genius. We all do what we can do.

            Cheers. See you after.