The Heavens

When you think of "the heavens", do you feel bound to look up, even though the heavens are to the left of us, and to the right? If Earth was transparent, we could even look down and see the stars. We are thoroughly ensconced in this eminent host dubbed "the Milky Way." Of the trillion or more galaxies in the universe, the Milky Way is the only galaxy we can now intimately; the only galaxy whose panoramic visits we can see with the naked eye.

Our nearest neighbor galaxy, Andromeda, is 2.5 million light years away. Fully 50% larger than our Milky Way, it presently hurtles toward us at 250,000 mph. Even at that speed, it will take the colossus, Andromeda, over four billion years to get close enough for us to see it: another half billion years before the big collision. 

In that way, we are insulated from the trillion other galaxies out there. To us, our Milky Way is "the heavens." Along with the hundreds of billions of other stars in this galaxy, our own (and Earth) are integral partners in this singular intragalactic dance. 

Now, imagine a civilization on a distant planet within the Milky Way looking at us in our neighborhood of stars, and beholding us as "the heavens," (like we have beheld them.) Like us, they will have failed to comprehend the majesty of their existence.

We are stellar. We are "the heavens." Perhaps it is time we start acting like it.