An amateur astronomer embraces mortality

Remember being taught back in science class that matter can't be created or
destroyed? I do. And now, with my existence in the reality structure which
permeates this planet more than half over, I look to the end and find
welcome comfort in that most basic of all principles. It also occurs to me
more and more frequently when peering through my telescope into both the
void of space and at stars and star systems within that void, that I am
checking out places where an atom or two here or an electron or three there
from my present body may visit at some point in the countless eons of an
infinite future. It's like an individual purchasing a burial plot before
death so as to have an awareness of the location and surroundings in which
some part of them will most certainly remain until that instant when our sun
claims all the inner planets in a flash.

Ever been to a race? With the bang of a gun or the ringing of a bell,
either humans, horses, or dogs all break loose from a fixed position to hurl
themselves down a course. The sun's future incineration of our planet is
analogous to the sounding of that gun or bell and at that point in time,
some unimaginably small part of yourself existing today in your heart,
brain, or bones will be released to drift down a universal path.

I'll race you to the center of the Milky Way!


--
Martin
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