As I grow older, I am filled more and more with a sense of wonder. This week I visited the Los Angeles Planetarium, which I had not yet seen after its fairly recent renovation. The restored art work in the dome was, of course, fascinating in concept, but it is no Sistine Chapel in execution. What gripped me was the depiction of “The Big Sky” at the lower level. Although Pluto has been demoted as a planet (too small), it is currently believed that there are billions, not of only of stars, but also of galaxies in our universe. As a matter of fact, it is now thought that there are other universes, a concept so vast it is almost incomprehensible to our human minds. Why, I wonder, is it suspected that there other universes? Is one universe insufficient to encompass all there is? Do universes multiply like other manifestations of nature? Did the divine entity we think of as One God create all the universes? Are some of the universes male and some female? I feel like a little child again asking so many questions and at the same time like the adult who can’t supply all the answers.
I think that being a grandmother and experiencing once again the wonder of the grandkids growing around me stokes my own sense of awe, the “I believe” in me. As I write this, I am nibbling on some dark chocolate (good for your blood circulation but not so good for a diabetic like me). The comforting taste of chocolate may be very small in comparison to the infinite creation of the universe(s), but it is surely a work of wonder too. Who knows? Maybe all that so far unidentifiable dark stuff in between the billions of stars is really made of something that tastes like chocolate. Now that would be wonderful. That’s what we need to alleviate conflict in our earthly world — a healthy dose of seratonin.
