Thursday, September 6, 2007 at 1:01am
A rare miracle in the universe
Column: Spiritual Psychology
Have you ever seen the heart-wrenching ad for the lost dog? "Missing: Small, anemic, spotted brown three-legged dog with one ear, blind in left eye, tail gone, recently castrated — answers to the name Lucky."
Lucky may not have been so lucky, but you should consider yourself hugely lucky. You've won the biggest lottery ever. The probability of being born an intelligent, sentient being is far less probable than winning any national or state lottery — and you won it! Now imagine your joy and jubilation if you actually did win a cash lottery? You would surely then answer to the name "Lucky" — and for good reason.
According to the Lottery Information Site, the probability of winning a typical lottery can range roughly from 1 in 5 million to 1 in 80 million, depending on how many numbers are drawn (usually varies between five and six) and the amount of numbers in the drawing pool (usually varies between 36 and 51).
In contrast, the probability of human life in the universe would make the other lotteries look like a sure thing. It's estimated that the galaxy that includes Earth in one of its planetary systems encompasses 75 billion other planetary systems. And beyond our galaxy there are at least 100 billion other galaxies, if not an infinite number in the ever-expanding universe — and each of those galaxies has billions of planetary systems.
How many planets in the universe does all that translate into? By one calculation, it's greater than a million billion planets. If indeed Earth were the only planet that sustains life, or intelligent life, then the term "lucky" is a vast understatement.
The Drake equation (developed by Dr. Frank Drake of the University of California), which uses the incidence of life on earth in our planetary system as the model for others, concluded that there must be life on thousands of other planets in our galaxy and others. Thus far, though, we have no evidence of life elsewhere — we have been unable to locate other intelligent life forms, and they have not contacted us. So our label of "super lucky" sticks.
How do we humans celebrate our improbable great fortune of existence? Reading the daily headlines, we find little cheer, or even awareness, that all of us have cashed the winning ticket. Much to the contrary, we find humans in conflict, often bent on eliminating elements of this rare creation — some for their color or ethnicity, others for their beliefs, sometimes for their possessions, and in some instances for no apparent or even disguised reason — just pure hatred and violence.
Far from celebrating our miracle, we have increasingly transformed the planet into a dog-eat-dog world that doesn't answer to the name Lucky.
Perhaps we need to meditate on our good fortune and start acting lucky. Let's call it the fall meditation at the dawn of a new season for lucky.
— — —
Bernard Starr, Ph.D., formerly professor of developmental and educational psychology at the City University of New York, now teaches psychology and leads the Spiritual Forum at Marymount Manhattan College. In addition to his work in radio, he is a longtime contributor of commentary and opinion articles to numerous major publications. He is also the main United Nations representative for the Institute of Global Education that founded the Mucherla Global School in Mucherla, India. His book "Escape Your Own Prison: Why We Need Spirituality and Psychology to be Truly Free" will be published by Rowman and Littlefield in October 2007. His email address is {email OmniCns@aol.com}OmniCns@aol.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Bernard Starr.
Lucky may not have been so lucky, but you should consider yourself hugely lucky. You've won the biggest lottery ever. The probability of being born an intelligent, sentient being is far less probable than winning any national or state lottery — and you won it! Now imagine your joy and jubilation if you actually did win a cash lottery? You would surely then answer to the name "Lucky" — and for good reason.
According to the Lottery Information Site, the probability of winning a typical lottery can range roughly from 1 in 5 million to 1 in 80 million, depending on how many numbers are drawn (usually varies between five and six) and the amount of numbers in the drawing pool (usually varies between 36 and 51).
In contrast, the probability of human life in the universe would make the other lotteries look like a sure thing. It's estimated that the galaxy that includes Earth in one of its planetary systems encompasses 75 billion other planetary systems. And beyond our galaxy there are at least 100 billion other galaxies, if not an infinite number in the ever-expanding universe — and each of those galaxies has billions of planetary systems.
How many planets in the universe does all that translate into? By one calculation, it's greater than a million billion planets. If indeed Earth were the only planet that sustains life, or intelligent life, then the term "lucky" is a vast understatement.
The Drake equation (developed by Dr. Frank Drake of the University of California), which uses the incidence of life on earth in our planetary system as the model for others, concluded that there must be life on thousands of other planets in our galaxy and others. Thus far, though, we have no evidence of life elsewhere — we have been unable to locate other intelligent life forms, and they have not contacted us. So our label of "super lucky" sticks.
How do we humans celebrate our improbable great fortune of existence? Reading the daily headlines, we find little cheer, or even awareness, that all of us have cashed the winning ticket. Much to the contrary, we find humans in conflict, often bent on eliminating elements of this rare creation — some for their color or ethnicity, others for their beliefs, sometimes for their possessions, and in some instances for no apparent or even disguised reason — just pure hatred and violence.
Far from celebrating our miracle, we have increasingly transformed the planet into a dog-eat-dog world that doesn't answer to the name Lucky.
Perhaps we need to meditate on our good fortune and start acting lucky. Let's call it the fall meditation at the dawn of a new season for lucky.
— — —
Bernard Starr, Ph.D., formerly professor of developmental and educational psychology at the City University of New York, now teaches psychology and leads the Spiritual Forum at Marymount Manhattan College. In addition to his work in radio, he is a longtime contributor of commentary and opinion articles to numerous major publications. He is also the main United Nations representative for the Institute of Global Education that founded the Mucherla Global School in Mucherla, India. His book "Escape Your Own Prison: Why We Need Spirituality and Psychology to be Truly Free" will be published by Rowman and Littlefield in October 2007. His email address is {email OmniCns@aol.com}OmniCns@aol.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Bernard Starr.