Impressions and Expressions

Different pieces of the puzzle

2011-11-13T22:53:00.000-08:00

A quick summary of all the previous blogs:
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I started off the first blog post in this site on July 2008 with observations and questions about human's place and role in the Universe and how our incomplete knowledge of Universe causes uncertainty and consequently uneasiness in day-to-day life. I argued that incomplete knowledge is inevitable in a life of Duality as existential questions are beyond human knowledge. I initially thought the solution lied only in the domain of non-duality i.e. that there has to be a self annihilation; which happens naturally in dreamless sleep and in a state of flow. I soon realized a satisfactory solution is very much needed in the domain of duality as well, as we do spend substantial time outside of states of non-duality.
I argued that a philosophy for life in duality has to be synthesized to provide sails to navigate the seas of duality. Prevailing religions didn't appeal to me as they are based on an unseen God as their foundation. I am not wired to be a man of faith. I knew that any philosophy I synthesize won't comprise of 'absolute truths' of nature, but I wanted it to be at least complete, non-contradictory, elegant and rational based on human experience. The following philosophical framework is my take on the idea of god and a definition of a religion which will be a compass to live a life in duality. The hope for this is two-fold: a) that it gives me clarity in life, that it would serve as an anchor and rudder in predominantly a life of duality and b) that it would help others like me who are traveling a similar path.

Philosophical framework for life in duality:
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Non-essential
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1. God - universe

Although God is non-essential in this philosophical framework, the concept of God demands clarification. God is generally considered as the being that created Universe. God outside of Universe is unimaginable. God inside (part) of Universe is finite and hence unacceptable. What is approachable is the idea that God is indistinguishable from Universe. Consequently, a reverence for everything in the cosmos is reasonable.

Essential
~~~~~~~~~

2. Religion - practice this; respect everything, contribute every day, love along the way

Religion is a guide to life. The necessary characteristic of religion is it should be unshakable over your lifetime. If you become skeptical over its fundamental precepts, then it can't serve as a guide any more.
practice: Internalizing and expertise requires mindful practice. Practice; duality imposes you to act, a task which you can do better with practice.
respect: All things in existence are equal by virtue of their existence, hence all things (animate/inanimate) deem respect. Respect everything; self-respect is an intrinsic right. Threads: Intrinsic, Self, Objective, Laws & Justice, Non-judgment => Rights.
contribute: Contribute as you consume much from this world, only that is fair. Contribute everyday; self-value is created when you create value in the world. Threads: Extrinsic, Other, Subjective, Economics & Value, Education => Employment.
love: Deep, meaningful social relationships are needed to avoid feeling lonely. Love along the way; self-love is a gift that you receive when you receive love. Threads: Holistic, Mutual, Relative, Sociology & Nurture, Parenting => Family.

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Full Circle

2010-11-13T19:56:00.000-08:00

PROBLEM:
You have existential questions that keep coming back to you and bother you and you yearn for clarity to settle this dilemma once and for all so you can lead a life anchored in sound rationale. But, you know you are 'finite' in more ways than one and you realize you only have partial and imperfect knowledge about ‘stuff’, as a result philosophies/religious thoughts seem too narrow for your logic and you have a difficulty in blind acceptance of such ideologies. You wonder, is there a natural, organic, human philosophy that you can come up with that satisfies your brain so you can get on with life?

OBSERVATION:
You come to terms with the fact that Absolute Knowledge is Utopia. The chances of enlightenment or a mystical halo around your head are pretty slim to none. You want to figure out a solution right here and now, with what you know.

FRAMEWORK:
This is the best ‘philosophy’ my brain can come up with:
Equality: Every thing in Existence is equal by virtue of its existence. There is a reason for every thing's existence. Be fair and respectful, to every thing.
Creativity: Every moment is a new creation. Creativity is a domino effect of everything in existence interacting with everything else. Anything creative as long as it does not decry the principle of Equality should be welcomed and celebrated in this world. Be adventurous and explore out of the box.
Causality: Causality is making mathematical sense of the world around you. You have a causal model, if you can predict future. Make good and humane use of causal models and keep making the models better.

SOLUTION:
Dismiss existential questions; spending energy on them may not be worth your while. Instead respect animate (people, flora and fauna) and inanimate things (water bodies, natural resources).
If you are a creative person; be creative and entertain people with your art, humor, literature and music.
If you are scientifically inclined; do fundamental research, engineer, invent drugs and technologies.
If you a genius (creative+scientifically inclined), you know what to do, just do it.

[It is still a challenge to know ways and means to treat non-humans with respect, think about ways to do that. (Examples may be: Treatment of animals before they become meat, not littering in the woods, not putting chemical waste in water bodies etc).]

IMPLICATION:
If you can be mindful and remember to live a life using the principles above, then you will pass Earth leaving a positive effect on beings and things around you. Some might say, you lived a meaningful life. Simple, but effective; that you were kind to things around you, contributed to the society and had jolly good time doing it.

MANTRA:
Respect everything, Contribute every day, Have fun along the way.

SUMMARY:
Does this philosophy solve the dilemma of existential questions in your head? If it did, it is a successful philosophy. Remind yourself of the mantra as and when needed and continue leading a positive life. If the dilemma comes back to you in a few months and the mantra doesn't help, this philosophy is not for you, search for your own mantra.

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Attitude - Focus and Progress

2010-11-11T08:54:00.000-08:00

Philosophy:
Flow of Existence.
Knowledge and Ignorance about the Flow.
Intuition and Mathematical models are Knowledge.
Prediction is the yardstick of knowledge.
Causal nature of the Flow is apparent from Knowledge and Prediction or vice versa.

Implication:
Understand, if not, Accept the past.
Desire a future.
Act in the present.

Guide (a conscious, personal decision):
Civic focus: Fairness, Service, Science, Work
Personal focus: Sleep, Health, Relationships
Entertainment focus: Arts, Sport, Nature

Attitude:
Make progress

(Incidentally, a study from Harvard today reported that a focused mind is a happy mind.
http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/645790.html)

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A Point of Reference

2010-07-18T08:22:00.000-07:00

In an earlier blog, I stated that even if we overlook Existential Questions, we still need to synthesize a Point of Reference for living in Duality with some Peace of Mind. Here is one PoR.

Humans experience subject-object dichotomy in waking state. This is not experienced in deep-sleep state. We are primarily concerned with the experience of duality in the waking state. Our observation of Existence is; objects with some attributes interacting with other objects it is connected to and based on the interaction there are changes in the involved objects. (By object, I mean, anything we objectify; example: an atom, a neuron, a star, a dog, a person, an emotion, a thought, a country.) From one moment to the next, Existence changes; this I refer to as Flow of Existence.

Without using any kind of knowledge (like scientific knowledge), there is no way to say one object in Existence is more superior or inferior to another object. Hence, with just our experience of duality and our ability to reason, we can claim that, all objects in existence are equal, by virtue of their existence. However our ability to objectify and formulate what we objectify has led to Science. We know couple of things about Science, a) we know science works; we are able to cure diseases and send man to moon and b) we know more today than we did yesterday. And because Science works, that implies that the Flow of Existence is algorithmic i.e. there is a set of rules. The more rules Science discovers/tweaks, the more we can predict the Flow. Although the Flow is algorithmic, there is room for newness. When object A interacts with object B, a completely new object X that never existed in Existence before may be produced. That is the creative nature in Existence which is witnessed in new babies, new art, new music, new ideas to solve problems etc. Humans too, are objects in this Flow. Strangely, we are Aware of our self and other objects. Our awareness/mindfulness of our self, our choices, our thoughts, our decision process and our ability to execute the decision in action has given rise to the concept and confusion about free-will. If we look closely at mindfulness of our self, we can realize that it is not a willed condition i.e. we are not mindful before we actually become mindful of our self. Once we become mindful, we recognize it. When and what we become mindful of, is also an exhibition of the creative nature of the Existence. In light of all of this, we can say that every moment is causally-driven, the cause being the entirety of Existence.

CONCLUSIONS:

Point of Reference for a Dualistic Human World:

Religion: Philosophy
God: Existence
Ethic: Equality
Pursuit: Science
Mantra: There are causes for everything that happened. You may not know all the causes. This wisdom will give you the inner-peace to accept the past. There will be causes for everything that will happen. You may not know all the causes. This ignorance will give you the freedom to cause a desired future.

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Hear - Reflect - Contemplate

2010-02-27T10:56:00.000-08:00

REVELATION
(Rupert Spira in his book Transparency of Things)
Omnipresence: Consciousness is all there is.
Omniscience: Consciousness is self-aware.
Omnipotence: Consciousness has total freedom.

REFLECTION
Something that is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent could be considered God, even an atheist would agree with that definition. The entirety of existence can be considered to be omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent; as Existence encompasses Everything! So, is consciousness = existence = god?

CONTEMPLATION
1. DUALITY: There is subject-object dichotomy
2. FUNDAMENTAL CLAIM: In the context of duality, every 'thing' in existence is equally significant by virtue of its existence. All superiorities and inferiorities are subjective/contextual.
3. FUNDAMENTAL OBSERVATION: Every 'thing' has some attributes and every 'thing' interacts with things it is connected to - can be visualized as a ripple effect. (Or butterfly/domino effect).
4. EXISTENTIAL QUESTION: What caused the ripple?
5. LIFE: Flow of Existence is algorithmic; proof is science.
6. DILEMMA: Our mindfulness causes confusion within us, creating an illusion of free-will. Realizing that mindfulness is not a willed condition dissolves that confusion.

From this argument, for humans in duality; the logical religion is Philosophy, the logical ethic is Equality, the logical pursuit is Science and the logical mantra for the present moment is Causality.

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Variables and Control

2009-09-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years.

One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. "Such bad luck," they said sympathetically. "Maybe," the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. "How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed. "Maybe," replied the old man.

The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. "Maybe," answered the farmer.

The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. "Maybe," said the farmer.

Taken from: http://www.katinkahesselink.net/tibet/zen.html (Sept 26, 2009)
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Living In Duality

2009-08-02T20:14:00.000-07:00

Abandon the search for Absolute, Synthesize a Point-of-Reference

Although we experience duality, we are unable to satisfactorily understand the truths about duality. Our deepest craving is to know the unsublatable truths about origin, nature, purpose etc of duality. Neither Religion nor Philosophy or Science has provided us with unambiguous and irreplaceable answers.

Concept	Religion	Philosophy	Science
Existence	Existence was created by God.	The ground of existence is the transcendental, timeless, ultimate reality.	Big-bang is a popular origin theory. The ground of existence is some fundamental particle.
Self	You are not God.	The self immediately evident to you is non-different from the ultimate reality.	The self is a product of brain’s processes.
Path to Truth/God	Live a life of faith following scripture to approach God in after-life.	Cultivate mental poise that is conducive for realization of the truth.	Look forward to better theories to explain reality.

All the three approaches; religion, philosophy and science agree on the presence of Existence but differ on its origin and nature. All the three agree on a self but differ on its nature. All the three agree that it is a process to obtain the truth and not immediately available to anyone at any time. So, our answer to questions about duality is: we don’t have unsublatable truths to understand duality at the moment.

If we look closely at the proposed paths towards truth, one way is to live a life of faith by following a religion. Another way is to live with noble ideals of an ascetic/monk which is required for mental poise as rationalized by the Philosophy. Yet another way is to pursue a career in fundamental physics or neuroscience to better understand the fundamental particle or the brain respectively. Some folks of faith may indeed pursue the above paths in search of absolute truths (rather than as a profession to make a living). But for most people, it is not very convincing just because of the lack of communicable proofs.

In this blog, I present a logical solution to only those people (including myself) who cannot commit themselves to the paths proposed by religion, philosophy or science. It’s based on the fact that life continues even without figuring out the so-called absolute truths. In light of that fact, it seems to me that the sensible thing to do would be to continue living life in duality and forget about the quest for truth. If the question arises in mind, be aware of it and ignore it. Move on and do the usual stuff. Ignore existential questions, indulge in duality is the mantra. However, can this be done?

Without the unsublatable truth there is no real point of reference for life in duality. Nothing is right/wrong, good/bad, better/worse unless there is a point of reference. Without a point of reference, living in duality is miserable as there is no way to form ethics and rules for decision-making when faced with choices etc. Metaphorically speaking, we need a map when we are lost.

A point-of-reference is an over-arching set of ideas that would explain in a very broad stroke all the happenings in duality. This set of ideas is knowledge we create by reflection on experiences in duality and are not equivalent to the intangible, absolute truths. Such a point-of-reference is our map; it should explain all the happenings of duality in a satisfactory way for us to lead a life in duality with a certain peace of mind. So, a point of reference has to be synthesized by us if we are to relinquish the quest for absolute truth.

Non-Dual Living in Duality

2009-04-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

Duality litmus test: Awareness of the 'notion' of individuality.

As soon as you are aware of yourself, that is, as soon as you are aware of the Individuality thought / the 'I'-thought / ego, the notion of 'you' different from a 'world' arises; two things, 'you' and a 'world' i.e. duality. For non-duality, the 'I'-thought should not arise. When individuality disappears, the situation is non-dual.

Note the distinctions made here among the following:
a) awareness, by itself,
b) awareness of 'I'-thought and
c) awareness of thoughts and things other than 'I'-thought.

Only when there is awareness of the 'I'-thought (case 'b'), there is duality.

Non-dual experience litmus test: Disappearance of the 'notion' of individuality.

1) Dreamless sleep: When in deep, dreamless sleep, neither the sense of 'self' nor the 'world' is present. Awareness is by itself (case 'a'). Non-dual experience.
2) Flow: 'You' lose yourself when doing something that you like or have a passion. For varying amounts of time while watching a movie, hearing good music, reading a book, talking to your sweetheart, doing your job if you like what you are doing etc, you are aware of other things of interest but not your ego (case 'c'). Non-dual experience.

Side Note: What is the evolutionary reason for the thought of 'individuality' / 'ego'? Is it present in all animals? What purpose does it serve in functioning of a biological organism? Can't that same functioning be accomplished without the sense of 'individuality'?
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The Situation

2008-12-21T15:11:00.000-08:00

This post is a summary of earlier posts:

1. Observation: There are multiple "worlds", for example, the world of ants, the world of dogs, the world of aliens from another galaxy, the world of humans etc. The causal world of humans is just one of a kind. The following points, briefly, suggest a theory to explain this situation.

2. Theory - Part 1: Each world is an appearance that is a function of the physical and psychological composition of the individual/species and not the "ultimate" reality out there. However, the appearances are grounded in that transcendental, ultimate reality. Humans too are grounded in that ultimate reality.

3. Theory - Part 2: The ultimate subject / seer / the mind's eye immediately known to oneself, that which observes the thoughts including the 'I'-thought, is non-different from the transcendental ultimate reality.

4. Some philosophical/religious references: God revealed himself as "I am that I am" in Christian Bible. Prophet Muhammad said, "He who knows his self knows his Lord". In Hindu Upanishads, its written, "The self is the transcendental reality".

Reality Check

2008-12-08T17:40:00.000-08:00

As the Observer is the common ground of all multifarious experience, the experience itself is purely only a function of the mental and physical faculties and not of the disinterested Observer. So, we can say our experience of a causal world is intimately tied to the mental and physical composition of the body. From this viewpoint, causality is not an objective view of reality.

Nevertheless, as a human, the world we experience is a causal world. Causality is on the side of reason and adaptable science and not on the side of absolutes and ideologies. From the point of view that causality is an experiential truth, we have to accept that the present moment is perfect. Denying that is denying causality. Denying that is denying science, reason and first-hand experience. There could be no alternative to the present moment (present moment is an effect of earlier causes). When times are bad, instead of complaining about the present moment, we just need move on and do what needs to be done.

Having said all this, we should again emphasize that our experience of causal world is only a product of our body and mind and not ultimate reality. Although we can figure out the cause for birth/sustenance/death of a star for example, the primordial cause of entire existence will always remain a mystery because of the question; what is the cause for the first cause? leading to infinite regress. Similarly, the purpose of this existence will also always remain a mystery as parts (ideas, concepts, theories etc) cannot be used to describe the purpose of the whole ('existence' that includes these ideas, concepts and theories). So, the situation is: the cause of every 'observable' thing (like a star, a tree or a thought) can be found but the cause and purpose of the entire existence itself will remain a mystery.

The preceding paragraph gives the reasons why any metaphysical or mystical ideas to understand or realize ultimate reality (not subjective reality) should be seriously looked at and reflected upon.

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Observer

2008-12-04T17:12:00.000-08:00

Who are you?

Let's make one assumption: if you can observe something then you are not that thing. For example, you can observe a distant star, hence you are not that star.

Under the above assumption, you are not the body because you can look at the body. You are not the thoughts because you can observe the thoughts. You are not the emotion because you can feel the emotion. You are not the conditioned brain because you are aware of the conditioning.

What are you? You are the Observer of all these things. A disinterested Observer at that. (Disinterested because conditioning is very much observable). The disinterested Observer is the essence of you-ness. The very fact that we are able to make this claim about an observer indicates that the Observer is somehow self-aware. There is no second observer observing the first observer; that is contradictory to our experience and logically would result in infinite observers.

We think we are the body, thoughts and conditioning because: a) Only we can voluntarily control our body, nobody else can and b) Only we are aware of our thoughts, nobody else is. I think these are sufficient reasons to distinguish them from say a star or a tree and to claim them as part of oneself. But, along with that, the silent witness in the background should also be noticed and acknowledged.

What is the contribution of the Observer? I think it is two-fold; a) It is the ground for the sense of self ("I") and b) It is needed for the awareness of any 'other' thing ("I am not that thing").

[If you don't make the assumption made in the beginning, the counter-assumption is, if you can observe something then you are that thing. Under this assumption, you are everything you observe. So, either you are none of these things or you are all of these things.]

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Probable Solutions

2008-11-12T07:17:00.000-08:00

Progression of ideas:

What is the situation? Awareness of Self and World.
What is the general problem? A sense of doership coupled with a lack of purpose.
What is the symptom of the problem in human? All knowledge is subjective and all actions are a result of conditioning. The situation is unsettling.
From inquiry, what are the probable solutions to the problem? a) Get rid of dualism to eliminate self-other split, b) Get 'objective' knowledge to understand everything, c) Live in duality and operate with subjective knowledge but understand you are not the doer.
Probable Sol #1: Get rid of dualism. Hint: Lose yourself, what remains is non-dual.
Probable Sol #2: Get objective knowledge. Hint: Lose the subject, what remains is objective.
Probable Sol #3: Understand non-doership. Hint: Reflect on the core of your being. (Subject of next blog.)

Dissolving Duality: an Unsolvable Problem

2008-11-09T23:34:00.000-08:00

As long as the ego (sense of 'I') exists in an individual, duality exists. Actions of an individual, motivated by reasoning on imperfect knowledge is bound to have effects on the individual as the ego presumes responsibility for the knowledge, reasoning and actions. As there cannot be any objective judgments such as right/wrong, good/bad etc about such actions, the individual is in limbo.

When the ego dissolves (this depends on whether ego is a real/illusory entity!), I think, all actions will become completely unselfish. When there is no doer (ego), there is no ground for the effects of actions to affect the doer.

How can an individual with ego attain the state of dissolved ego? I don't think it is possible because all actions of the individual with ego produces effects that affects the ego and only bolsters its presence.

Root Cause: Duality

2008-10-14T20:19:00.000-07:00

Effect: Uneasiness due to uncertainty

Cause: Duality

Cause -> Effect: {Duality + Body/Mind} -> Imperfect knowledge -> Uncertainty -> Uneasiness

Symptom of the correct solution to the problem: To be at ease every moment

Stating the Purpose of Existence: an Unsolvable Problem

2008-09-23T17:20:00.000-07:00

Existence: Everything. Examples: The chair I am sitting on, dust on the ceiling, a distant star in a different galaxy, mental concepts like atomic theory, patriotism etc.

Awareness: The fact that I am able to make this claim about chairs and stars means I am aware of chairs and stars. Somehow, I know these things are different from me (as I am also self-aware). Labeling them and scientifically understanding and manipulating them stems from this awareness.

Also stemming from this awareness, is a question: why is there an existence rather than nothing? Basically, what is the purpose of existence?

As an analogy, what is the purpose of a cell phone? Because man invented it, we can firmly state its intended purpose. To put it simply, one way to state the purpose of a cell phone is, it can be used to talk to a distant person. The important thing to note here is that, in stating the purpose of the cell phone we did not mention how a cell phone looks or works. The implementation of the cell phone itself is not needed to state its purpose.

It is my premise that the parts cannot be used to state the purpose of the whole. In our cell phone example, we used the concepts/objects: use, talk, distance, and person etc to state the purpose. Moreover, we did not mention the screen, keypad, antenna etc which are parts of a cell phone to state its purpose. But the parts need to be used to describe how the parts put together achievs the stated purpose.

From the cell-phone example, we can note that there is a difference between: a) stating the purpose of an object and b) describing how the parts of that object satisfy its purpose. The purpose of any object is stated using objects and concepts external to the object in question. Whereas, description and relationships between parts proves how the stated objective is achieved.

Coming back to the original question, what is the purpose of existence? We should, similar to a cell phone, be able to state the purpose of existence without involving the parts that make up existence. But the problem here is that existence encompasses all objects and concepts. There are no objects or concepts above and beyond existence that we can use to state the purpose of existence. We have to conclude, then, that it is impossible to state the purpose of existence.

The purpose of existence is beyond man's understanding. So, complete, perfect knowledge is impossible, for we have a question (what is the purpose of existence?) for which we cannot reason an answer. Hence, knowledge in the conventional sense is useless to solve this particular problem. This being the case, as long as we are aware of existence (duality), this problem will prevail and remain a cause of uncertainty.

Problem (Observation: 5/5)

2008-09-17T10:56:00.001-07:00

Uneasiness due to uncertainty. Uncertainty due to incomplete knowledge.

Everyday Life (Observation: 4/5)

2008-09-15T20:38:00.000-07:00

What is the basis for your action?

Courtesy for picture:
Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious
Author: Gerd Gigerenzer, Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classic)

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Human Society (Observation: 3/5)

2008-08-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

Why such extreme inequality?

Ten million people die every year of hunger and hunger-related diseases. 25% of hungry people are children.
(just one of the many inequalities)

Links:
http://www.wfp.org/aboutwfp/introduction/hunger_who.asp?section=1&sub_section=1
http://www.fao.org/es/ESS/chartroom/gfap.asp#

Time (Observation: 2/5)

2008-07-27T21:38:00.001-07:00

What number are you?

Its estimated about 100 billion humans have lived on earth since their evolution began between 400,000 - 250,000 years ago

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_population
http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/Photography/Images/POD/t/trichur-pooram-crowd-508657-sw.jpg

Space (Observation: 1/5)

2008-07-25T20:47:00.000-07:00

Can you spot Earth in this vastness?

Artist's concept of the Milky Way galaxy

Links:
http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/news/hurt_milky_way_image.html
http://www.news.wisc.edu/11405
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/021127a.html