You’re not the center of the universe. I bet you’ve heard that for your entire life.
Actually, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn1 and I would disagree with that statement. And I’m sure you knew the truth, deep down, all along: you are the center of the universe.
I mean obviously, if you want to get technical, you’re just one of 8 billion human beings, one of about 108 billion human beings who have ever been born. Our entire species is barely a blip on the cosmic radar, our entire solar system is just a speck of dust in a massive universe, and our entire universe is just one little air bubble in the Swiss cheese of reality. Maybe.
But forget all that for the moment.
A lot of the philosophy that people discuss and care about these days is political, looking at the moral value of society, policy, and large institutions. Me, I’m more concerned with the moral value of the individual. I’m an individualist.
I believe that your mind is possibly the most important thing to ever exist. It’s definitely the most important thing in your life. The universe as you know it only exists in your mind, and your mind controls the impact you have on the universe outside of you.
I mean, I’m getting kind of existential about it, but at the end of the day, what do you have control over? Your mind. And what don’t you have control over? Absolutely everything else: your friends and family and government and nature and physics and your own body. So you have to start with your mind.
I’m sure you’ve got dreams and desires. Maybe you want to make the world a better place. But if you want to make your universe better, the only place to start is to make your mind better. Think more, learn more, develop better habits. If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change.
Now, of course, you can always worry about things like politics and religion and the planet. And they’re important.
But the most important thing through it all is always to be the best you you can be.
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), Russian author and critic of the Soviet Union, said in his book The Gulag Archipelago, “The Universe has as many different centers as there are living beings in it. Each of us is a center of the Universe…”
