The fabric of the universe is joy
“Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can’t take it” (American Beauty)
In my undergraduate class “Matter in the Universe,” we studied everything from quarks to the birth of the universe. The signature of that birth, the cosmic microwave background (CMB), remains; across the vastness of space, the temperature of the universe is 2.726 +/- degrees Kelvin. That isn’t too warm by our standards[1], but it is the heat that remains after ~13.8 billion years of cooling.
It comes to us in microwaves: not the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum, but researchers have created beautiful color contrast representations, like the one below and these images, to show us.
I think of joy (and hope and love) as the signature of the universe: the CMB. It’s easy to miss, but always there. It is truth, even when hard to find.
The universe, this world, our lives, are complicated — sometimes more than they need to be. All seems to move so quickly: often too quickly to take in that joy that surrounds us. We hurtle quickly through space too — but the CMB remains — present, steady, peaceful.
Ours is a beautiful, painful, wonderful, sad, joyful, paradoxical reality. This microwave background radiation: this joy, was born of an explosion many many times more powerful than we can imagine.
We wouldn’t be here without powerful, destructive, creative, beautiful forces. Without the explosion and destruction of stars that forged the gold in our joints, the oxygen we breathe, the iron in our blood, and the atoms in the nine amino acids in the oxytocin that spreads love.
There wouldn’t be life without volcanoes that contributed steam and water and our atmosphere, and the plate tectonics that both cause earthquakes and promote a healthy atmosphere and cycling of nutrients and the maintenance of a magnetic field and a good temperature for life.[2]
There would likely be no humans if an asteroid hadn’t wiped out the dinosaurs — and a lot of other life.
We aren’t protected from these creative destructive events. There is a beauty, deep beyond, in our fragility. Our awareness of the brevity and unpredictability of our time here helps us live more fully — the knowledge of death helps us be more alive.
From the birth of this universe, there has been tragedy and destruction, and also beauty and creation — entwined so they can never be separated.
And in all of that, there is joy, recognizing life is unpredictable. Recognizing life can have big ups and big downs. Recognizing life is fragile.
We can easily miss that joy. I know I too often have my head down. I too often focus on the next deadline or the next meeting or the next appointment.
The joyful practice of contemplation can help us find that hidden joy. Taking time for stillness in meditation or prayer or awe in nature, we can find and feel and experience that joy and find it isn’t actually that hidden. It’s just quiet — but always here, there, and everywhere.
In those times of sadness and anxiety in our life, we can seek refuge in those pillars of this ever present joy: relationships, reconnecting with purpose, fitness, contemplation, and fun. Joy is always there — waiting for us to find it.
So this week, let’s go and find that cosmic microwave background. Let’s walk the long way, leave our phones behind, and notice the colors in nature or the people around us. Let’s take the time to listen to children’s laughter. Let’s make time and say yes to that dinner with friends. Let’s make space for joy without searching too hard or trying too hard or resisting. Joy, love, peace: they are around us, ready for us to experience.
And at the same time, let’s forgive ourselves and let it be when we just can’t connect with that joy. Yes — it’s always there, but also sometimes it can be really hidden. When we allow for that, and don’t try too hard, we might just find that CMB reveals itself a little later.
[1] If we experienced that temperature, we’d never complain about a Boston winter again. Of course, we’d also be dead.
[2] Some argue plate tectonics are not essential for life; nevertheless a preponderance of research suggests plate tectonics have played an important role in getting us to human life on earth.
This is the 25th post about boosting joy the only way we can: in community. Please share, subscribe (https://medium.com/@justinpasquariello), and join our movement by emailing me or supporting East Boston Social Centers: https://www.ebsocialcenters.org/support