When someone asks me how old I am, I sometimes say 13.8 billion years old.
It’s as true as whatever my passport says. Perhaps even more true. And it’s something we all share. It’s something we all share, whether we are galaxies, solar systems, stars, planets, ecosystems, plants, animals, emotions, thoughts, experiences of all sorts, molecules, atoms, quarks. We were all born 13.8 billion years ago.
We have evolved. Changed. We look quite different from back then.
But we are all the universe in it’s local expression. We are all how the universe has evolved, and is currently expressing itself.
As humans, and living beings, we are how the universe is currently expressing, exploring, and experiencing itself. We are a 13.8 billion year old universe experiencing itself.
We are, as Carl Sagan said, the local eyes, ears, emotions and thoughts of the universe bringing itself into awareness.
And that’s no joke. It’s as real as saying there was a certain number of years since I, as a human individual, was born. I have changed greatly as a human being since then. The universe has changed greatly as a universe since then. Everything physical in me is part of that 13.8 billion year old universe. And every pattern, dynamic and process in me is the result of 13.8 billion years of evolution.
This literally changes everything. When I take this in, feel it, find real examples of how it’s true, everything changes. My whole perspective changes. The context for my life changes.