stars
Vincent Van Gogh, 1889
I want to go into space
For 3 years now I’ve been slightly obsessed with the stars. They have so much possibility in them, so alien to us. Looking up at them is like time travelling. When these stars were burning and this light was emitted the dinosaurs populated the Earth. The stars that are burning now will be visible to a future no one can imagine or predict. Who knows what earth with be privy to those.
The stars represent different galaxies, different possibilities. Who else can see them? From what different perspective? The likelihood for any of us to be alive is so small, from the Earth being formed at the appropriate temperature and conditions for life to thrive, for dinosaurs to be wiped out so mammals could take over as the prominent life form, to our parents meeting. What if you hadn’t been born? That nothingness of non-existence. This nothingness is huge compared to the snippet of life we each get to experience. No thoughts or emotions. Just nothing.
What are the chances that intelligent life formed elsewhere? That someone else is out there wondering the same thoughts and looking at the same stars from the other side of the universe, wondering if I exist. Recently (23 July 2015) NASA confirmed that it had discovered an Earth-sized planet orbiting a star in the habitable zone. It’s still unknown whether or not there is life on this planet, yet if there wasn’t we could perhaps one day send out microorganisms to evolve there, and one day, when they were intelligent enough, they may imagine some Gods up in the sky who put them there and it would be us. And if there is life on it, what similar experiences have we had. Gazing up at the stars. The light that we see has travelled further than I can comprehend. You realise what a small piece of the puzzle you really are.
Humans base interactions on things in common and consequent relatability. The stars are universal. They connect everyone: young, old, dead, alive, human, animal, alien and what is to be. For the future is just the events we can’t remember. We created the concept of time. No matter who you are or what you do when you look to the sky they will always be there, even if you can’t see them. On the same area of the planet you see the same stars, the same night. They are there for everyone to enjoy and connect us all, every generation. They watch over us. Oh, the things they have seen, bore witness to. They light the shadowy decay of the night, the decadence and hedonism that people like to think are hidden in the dark. The have watched us evolve, develop as a race, seen it all. They saw your parents meet, saw your first words, all your memories. Yet they are mostly ignored and unnoticed, but they never leave. They are a constant in this ever changing world. No matter what they will always be there for you to wish upon, to escape to. To escape away to another time they’ve seen. Disappear into your imagination.
And providing the ability to see them, comes the night. The stars highlight the need for balance, for darkness as without it you cannot see them. The night has some ethereal magic to it. Anything can happen under the cloak of darkness. There are fewer witnesses, fewer judgements. It is bursting with potential, capable of being filled with anything and everything, mirroring the possibilities the stars encompass. The night holds the promise of tomorrow, a seemingly distant time when you can deal with consequence and necessities. It is, in itself, separate from reality. The distance between us and the other stars means it is only when the sun comes back up and blinds them into invisibility, as well as exposing the decay of the night that we must remember our roles and responsibilities and forget the hedonistic nature of the hours past.
They are our guides, as they have been for years. Guiding ships across oceans, explorers to new lands. The sun is a star and it provides all life on Earth. Stars provide hope when there is little to hope for. You don’t need to know much about them to appreciate them. In fact, I almost prefer not knowing. It keeps a mystery in a world where information is thrown around and most things are available at the click of a button.
And yet in London if you see one star you are lucky. But there are infinitely many, infinitely many possibilities. What it would be to get that little bit closer. To see the Earth as they see it. Almost God-like, watching over. They are so untouchable. So destructive yet so beautiful from afar. All the answers we seek they know. Astronauts are the new explorers, adventurers, delving into the abyss. Exploring the infinite.