Seeing Mars/Seeing Ourselves
I watched some footage taken by NASA’s Perseverance Rover from the surface of Mars recently. I’ve seen similar footage before, but the high definition images came with sound this time and viewing the footage with the familiar sound of wind deeply affected me.
Comprehending the reality of another planet other than our own, affected me in ways I’m not sure I’ve the skill with words to convey however I thought I might have a go at trying to express those thoughts and feelings.
Here goes…
I’m taking in on my computer screen an ancient, alien, stark and lifeless landscape that is not fictional - The paradox of the familiarity of landscape, familiar visual triggers of rocks, the textures and colours - but it’s not of our own planet.
That it has been there for billions of years - just… existing.
There is only one law of physics that relates to time - `Nothing, unless affected by something else, can heat up in and of itself’. Time exists as the entropy of heat and is not regarded as a constant. Einstein knew how everything - everything is relative. In larger terms that our consciousness is only beginning to conceive, it is relevant to our comprehension in that it gives a sense of our infinitesimally small place in time and space within our universe.
We view the surface of Mars remotely on our Earth in images we perceive as closer to reality than the previous abstractions of earlier lower quality cameras and it gives a tangible weight to a view and a perspective upon our own reality.
Our species, native to this planet and ourselves being alive in this moment of time in our existence within a relatively larger quantum of time - are stepping out from the comfort of our planetary home to explore the neighbourhood and into a vastly wider comprehension of existence and a growing comprehension of our warmth within the cold nihilism of the reality of our universe.
The sentient existence of our species and the warmth of our empathy within this cold reality give reason to ourselves for our existence. If for no other purpose we leave our planet to live on others and the space between, we should at the very least hold this as our reasoning to do so. And grow.
