Dauer,
What a great question! Bringing the subject of cosmology down to the practical.
I like to think that what I believe about Cosmos, and origins of & beyond our planet, does affect how I live my life ... including my outlook on the world. It affects my understanding of both myself, and others, on a personal level. Best of all, it gives me reason to view life positively, even when
"bad things happen to good people," this kind of thing.
Really I can be quite a cynic. But I feel certain that people are basically good at heart.
All people. I know we can become crusty sometimes ... encrusted by our vices, negative habits of thought, speech and action. But none of that utterly buries or negates who and what we are on the inside -- of this, I am actually certain.
With this kind of conviction, and with the belief in the law of karma, that
what goes around, comes around ... I feel like it becomes possible to accept certain cosmological points, or to live in denial. But we cannot change what is, in the greater sense. Or rather, we don't really need to, save only slightly.
And that brings our focus back down to Earth, and the current experiences of humanity on our planet, at this time, no matter what we might happen to believe about the stars above.
Yes, the study of the Heavens seems to hold much potential Wisdom, or Insight for us ... yet if it is not
applied in our own, personal lives -- the microcosm -- then frankly,
who cares?
I mean, seventy-eleven odd million Buddhas might pop out of an egg somewhere, or an entire Galaxy wink into the next Cosmic dimension, and I believe that certainly these things may and
do affect us, even if we don't know about it. But suppose we do. What of it?
If it inspires us, helps to direct our actions (in a more beneficial way), and motivates us ...
even toward self-improvement alone, not to mention toward becoming better servers ... then there may even be
no end, literally, to the resonance patterns that are being & have been created.
Just so it doesn't become only so much mental masturbation ... or fuel for the
monkey mind.
Peace,
andrew