Macro- and micro-cosms

  The early images from the James Webb Space Telescope are beautiful and inspiring; it is also fascinating to think how this expensive bit of technology is expanding our understanding of the universe we live in, the macrocosm with its unimaginably large number of galaxies, each with an imaginably large number of stars.  I read about two galaxies colliding, and realize I don’t even have enough knowledge of physics to understand what this phrase “galaxies colliding” really means.  I know that it involves extremely complex interactions of gravitational fields as well as intense radiation, but there my imagination and my mathematics falters. 

At the microcosmic level of the human sensory system, another set of (perhaps less expensive) technologies reveals equally fascinating (and complex) interactions.  Mind is not just the product of electrical interactions in complex electrical circuits.  It also the product of chemical interactions, within neural systems but also between neural systems and the other tissues and organs in which they are embedded – and the product of the social and cultural interactions of the whole body with other bodies, other persons.  

It is such an exciting time to be alive, with our knowledge of both the cosmos and ourselves expanding faster than any one person can even keep track of.  My fervent hope is that we will be able to solve the political and ecological crises that confront us, preserve and foster the culture of curiosity and inquiry that has preserved these wonders so that future generations can continue to expand our knowledge, our understanding, and our imagination.