One of my favourite things about Hubski when I first joined were lil's writing prompts. They're less common nowadays, so I'm going to start posting some more.
Today's prompt comes from a qoute lil included with a fascinating link to a video about the Milky Way's position in the universe.
---------
"Behold a universe so immense that I am lost in it. I no longer know where I am. I am just nothing at all. Our world is terrifying in its insignificance."
- Fontenelle, 1686
---------
In what ways do you experience insignificance?
rd95 wrote, "In the scope of the universe, we are mere atoms, but in the scope of our own lives, we are titanic." we are mere atoms insignificant we are mere onlookers stupified, eyes wide we are mere midwives (if we are lucky) delivering what they conceive I am Titanic moving headlong into a glacier sinking insignificant. In the scope of the universe In the face of beauty In the presence of genius In the shipyards of myself
I live in an odd little place, it's not actually a small town but we have everything we need here. Everybody knows everybody, and people will ask you for a week if you remember talking to them Monday night at pub since you were pretty rough. It's easy to feel significant until you walk outside and see the mountains or the lake. They and the awe surrounding them are the only reason I am allowed to live here. You have to work in a national park in order to live there. They tower over this little place, and when you start to climb them you see just how far they reach. At work it's easy to feel insignificant, people don't come here for me, although sometimes I wonder what they do come here for. I wonder why two siblings sit at a table with tablet and headphones in instead of interacting. I wonder why partners will sit on their phones instead of enjoying the moment. There's checking the phone, and then there's foregoing proper interaction in favour of the phone. I wonder what people consider significant, or if they question this at all. I have the power to ruin somebody's day with zero effort on my part. Why do people left these things ruin their day ? How can I flip from being the most insignificant person in somebody’s day to being day-ruining significant ? Thinking about it, the people who treat me with significance will also not give me the power to ruin their day. I flip between feeling insignificant and significant but I have no idea what I consider significant to me. I’m happy I didn't get thinking about this before bed.
Perhaps they subconsciously feel anxious about being insignificant in their social circles if they don't constantly keep up to date. Or the significance they feel get from being connected offers a respite from the insignificance they feel around the mountains that tower over them. From the Peak District to The Rockies, I don't think I've ever felt insignificance if the face of awesome scenery. There's every chance I didn't get that far, instead stupefied by the beauty like in the second stanza of lil's contribution. I thought back to The Rockies when I read these lines in Orlando by Virginia Woolf: "The English disease, a love of Nature, was inborn in her, and here, where Nature was so much larger and more powerful than in England, she fell into its hands as she had never done before."I wonder why partners will sit on their phones instead of enjoying the moment. There's checking the phone, and then there's foregoing proper interaction in favour of the phone.