Time

The cosmic view of time is utilized to open up the mind, how our lives are so short, and we can have a little more wisdom in our view of life, indeed, we could actually aim for enlightenment. A huge mountain where a bird flew over with a strip of silk, and that wearing down the mountain is how long a big unit of time takes. A kalpa. Or is it a mahakalpa? Obviously it's not scientific, it's spiritual image. We can't imagine how old the universe is, or time really. Living in the now might be a spiritual strategy to cope with anxiety and depression, but a larger view of time is also useful. The cosmic view can aid spirituality.

"light from the four galaxies took more than 13.4 billion years to reach Webb. More precisely, the telescope sees the galaxies as they looked only 350 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was only 2% of its current age, although the galaxies must have started to form even earlier." (source) These new telescopes are looking far out into the universe, and into time, it's a similar kind of phenomenon. 

I'm reading a fascinating book of essays by Benjamin Labatut called When We Cease To Understand The World. In the essay I'm reading now he's talking about the Schwarzschild singularity. Time bends around dense objects. Einstein got a letter from the front during WW1 from a academic who was dead by the time he got the letter, with elegant solutions to problems he couldn't even imagine yet. Unique and fascinating book came out in 2020. Short and recommended non-fiction essays. This is a book worth savoring.

I still find it amazing the Buddha who lived 2500 years ago has ideas that I have read about.