Galexies at the edge of the universe; image by NASA, script by Starr
(Image by nasa.gov) Details DMCA
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. How do I know? Because you are here.
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 jubilation if you actually won a cash lottery? You would surely answer to the name Lucky and for a good reason.
According to wonderopolis.org your chance in a lottery of picking the correct 6 numbers from a pool of 49 numbers is one in fourteen million. If you purchased a ticket for that lottery every week the probability of you winning would be once in 269,000 years. For the multi-state mega millions lottery the probability of winning slips to 1 in 176 million
While the prospect of winning a lottery is a longshot fantasy the probability of winning human life in the universe would make a lottery ticket look like a sure thing.
Earth is just one planet in our solar system in the Milky Way galaxy. But add to that the 3,200 stars in our galaxy that have been identified with planets orbiting them. They are just a fraction of the 200 billion stars in our galaxy that likely have planetary systems, according to NASA. If that isn't mind-boggling enough, the Milky Way may be just one of as many as 200 billion galaxies. if not an infinite number in the ever-expanding universe and each with possibly billions of planetary systems.
How many planets in the universe does that translate into? By one calculation, 21.6 sextillion (21,600,000,000,000,000,000,000,000).
If indeed Earth was the only planet that sustains life, or intelligent life, then the term lucky for your existence is a vast understatement.
The Drake equation, developed by astronomer and astrophysicist Dr. Frank Drake at the University of California in 1961, uses the incidence of life on Earth in our planetary system as the model for others. He concluded that there must be life on thousands of planets in our galaxy and others. Thus far though, despite rumors and speculations, we have no evidence of life elsewhere; we have not located other intelligent life forms, and none have officially contacted us. So the 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 each of us has cashed a winning ticket. Much to the contrary, we find humans in conflict almost everywhere. They are often bent on harming or eliminating members of this rare creation--for their color, their beliefs, their possessions, and in some instances for no apparent or even disguised reasons, just out of pure hatred
Far from celebrating the miracle of our existence, we have increasingly transformed this tiny planet into a dog-eat-dog-world with few of us answering to the name Lucky.
Now that you know that you have won the lottery of life, spend your winning wisely. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Perhaps we need to meditate on our good fortune and start acting lucky. Let's call it: The New Year's meditation at the dawn of an awakening.
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