EPTSpeaking with a friend today, he told me a story. I've summed up his points below as best I could recall.
+ Show Spoiler +
I had an epiphany when I was 13, it resulted in a near death experience.
As humans on Earth, we are part of the all-entailing, infinite universe. Our solar system is made up of 8 planets, and our star, the Sun. The Sun is roughly 109 Earths accross, and can fit more than 220,000 Earths inside of it. Our Galaxy is made up of an estimated 400 Billion Stars, each with its own solar system just like ours. It has been estimated that there are more than 500 billion Galaxies, each with its own set of Stars. If you held up a grain of sand, the patch of sky it covers contains more than 10,000 galaxies alone.
Relative to the universe, how big are you?
The Universe is 13.75 billion years old. Our Solar System, Earth included, formed 4.6 billion years ago. The first apes appeared 35 million years ago, the first apelike men appeared 10 million years ago. Man has been on Earth for only 300,000 years. The current world average for life expectancy is:
67.2 years, or
24,545 days, or
589,080 hours, or
35,344,800 minutes or
2,120,688,000 seconds
Your life span in relation to the universe is the equivilent of a Human blink. Human life on Earth itself in relation to the Universe equivalent to less than an hour. Relative to the universe, how old are you?
We are all going to die. Whether its tomorrow or 50 years from now, we're all terminal.
In the end nothing matters. It doesn't matter if you kill 6 million Jews or you are the epitome of Altruism. It doesn't matter if you censored science on a religious basis, or sponsored it with theory and law. All the suffering in the world, all the joy in the world means nothing. It doesn't matter if you raised a family or left no relatives. A Single human or even the entire human species is insignificant. It is without purpose and will not change in the totality of existence.
When I realized this I had an uncontrollable urge to kill myself, what point was there in living? Sure it was selfish, my friends and family would grieve their loss, but what did I care, I was dead and they soon would be too. It is all meaningless
As humans on Earth, we are part of the all-entailing, infinite universe. Our solar system is made up of 8 planets, and our star, the Sun. The Sun is roughly 109 Earths accross, and can fit more than 220,000 Earths inside of it. Our Galaxy is made up of an estimated 400 Billion Stars, each with its own solar system just like ours. It has been estimated that there are more than 500 billion Galaxies, each with its own set of Stars. If you held up a grain of sand, the patch of sky it covers contains more than 10,000 galaxies alone.
Relative to the universe, how big are you?
The Universe is 13.75 billion years old. Our Solar System, Earth included, formed 4.6 billion years ago. The first apes appeared 35 million years ago, the first apelike men appeared 10 million years ago. Man has been on Earth for only 300,000 years. The current world average for life expectancy is:
67.2 years, or
24,545 days, or
589,080 hours, or
35,344,800 minutes or
2,120,688,000 seconds
Your life span in relation to the universe is the equivilent of a Human blink. Human life on Earth itself in relation to the Universe equivalent to less than an hour. Relative to the universe, how old are you?
We are all going to die. Whether its tomorrow or 50 years from now, we're all terminal.
In the end nothing matters. It doesn't matter if you kill 6 million Jews or you are the epitome of Altruism. It doesn't matter if you censored science on a religious basis, or sponsored it with theory and law. All the suffering in the world, all the joy in the world means nothing. It doesn't matter if you raised a family or left no relatives. A Single human or even the entire human species is insignificant. It is without purpose and will not change in the totality of existence.
When I realized this I had an uncontrollable urge to kill myself, what point was there in living? Sure it was selfish, my friends and family would grieve their loss, but what did I care, I was dead and they soon would be too. It is all meaningless
Hearing this was obviously confronting - has anyone comments or other examples of suicide inducing epiphanies they've encountered?
![[image loading]](http://gabrielhummel.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/suicide-world-is-your-oyster.png)
