Black Water

Introduction

 In a world of rampant technological growth, we are beginning to lose sight of who we are as people. The human race is the single most underrated species on planet Earth, and this is because of the growing discontent with our own actions. We need to recognize the importance of not only surviving on this planet by countering threats such as global climate change and cancer, but also the importance of individuality in a world in which people are losing sight of themselves in a vast and constantly changing universe. Those who do not feel this sort of despair will know it very soon, and those who understand it today are amongst the most drastically affected.

Ignorance is bliss. Understanding the endless stretches of the cosmos is impossible, and comprehending such terrifying limits would lead to the breakdown of the modern mentality. It is therefore unfortunate that so many young people today are being told that they can understand anything, see anything, and beat anything, when in reality the sciences and natural laws that we hold so dear are nothing more than thin lies, meant to disguise a harsh and unforgiving landscape that we cannot possibly come to terms with.

Our physical problems will be solved with numbers and calculations, but the ultimate questions of our own existence can only be solved with writing and poetry. Our place in this universe is not easily definitive. Those who claim it to be meaningless are just as foolish as those who say that they're the center of the universe. Nothing can be seen by humans, and therefore nothing can be concluded.

All men are rational; they do what they believe is best. There is no evil in the world at all - only different perceptions of what is correct. There is no solution to reality; there is only a constant ambition to defeat nature. Recent breakthroughs in bioengineering and medicine have brought forth astounding ways to treat cancer and delay death. Research in astrophysics have us aiming for planets as far as Mars. Gender equality, civil rights, and freedom of speech have been more commonplace now than ever before.

But what do we have to answer the big questions? Our modern day arguments all regard the issue of staying alive, but what happens afterwards? Our existence lies on a blue ball of rock, hurtling through space at unimaginable speeds in a far greater and far more terrifying universe. How can we make a significant contribution to this void?

The answer - that you cannot. But what you can do is live with it. What you can do is prevent yourself from breaking down and mumbling and whispering in a furious tone, insisting that something must be wrong. Insisting that the calculator isn't working, that the numbers are altered, that the measurements are misplaced, when in reality, it is your own preconceived notion of reality that is blinding you. Let go of what you think you know, and perhaps you'll see something beyond the stars. Science is meant to help us survive. Those who pursue it in the name of understanding reality are fools. Knowledge is relative. Understanding is relative. And we are most certainly not on the upper half of this scale.

I looked up at the stars one night during a camping trip, and I saw a beautiful orange glow at the horizon, which streaked across the sky and broke apart in front of my eyes, dazzling me with a plethora of color and light. It was beautiful, and yet only lasted for the tiniest fraction of a moment. Soon enough the night sky was once again empty - a blank sheet of blue-black. The occurrence struck me with a pang of utter insignificance; that meteor had traveled across the cosmos, flying at an unprecedented pace - it survived the harshest winter of the void, the burning heat of stars; it dodged past asteroid fields and escaped the pull of every planet it passed by, just to crumble away in front of my eyes, right here, in the middle of the woods, on this planet. Was that its ultimate purpose? To lighten up the night sky for a brief moment? To make a few seconds of my life just a little prettier? Was there nothing else to its journey? Was there nothing else?