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The Big Bang

Heat Death of the Universe

uniform nothingness

[~10¹⁰ years]

wonderfully diverse, ever-changing, self-organizing complexity

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This one is to my newborn son Tim.

Dear Tim!

This life that you have recently become a distinct part of - is a wonderful thing.

And don’t let anybody (your very own self included) ever make you believe that it’s not, no matter how convincing the evidence may look at the time.

Nevertheless, it won’t be easy. There will be moments, when anxiety and desperation may overcome you. There will be times when you may run out of breath. There will be times when you may seriously question whether you belong here.

In times like that, all you need to do is change your perspective. Think of a bigger picture, the bigger - the better. In fact, you can think of the biggest picture there is.

Think of the universe that is humming along on its cosmic journey.

This journey started eons ago in the womb of nothingness.

As if a drop of paint suddenly fell into a glass of water, the world began with a big splash.

The paint started to dissolve, forming ever-changing patterns, creating increasingly more complex swirls.

You are one of those swirls. A very complex one. A fractal swirl which in itself contains the whole.

One day, a very long time from now, all the swirls will probably cease to exist (even though all the paint will still be somewhere in there). The ever-so-slightly coloured water will return to the still and quiet womb of nothingness.

But for now, and for ages to come, the swirls will only get more complex, more diverse, more intricate, more beautiful. There is no other way, for the paint has already been dropped.

This is the process of which you are a part, the continuum that you belong to.

It can not stop and it can not go wrong. Neither can you.

It simply is and it is beautiful. Just like you.

Think about it.

If this isn’t wonderful, what is?

Love,

Dad