Imagine

Imagine a world beyond our world.

(Photo credit: NASA/Thierry Legault)

The most amazing, inspiring thing I have seen this week is the image of Atlantis and the Hubble space telescope in front of the sun. It’s humbling. And the entire mission, for me,  puts life in perspective.

At fourteen years of age I wondered for the first time what life was about. Not just my life, but the purpose of life. It was the first time I was aware of wanting to know the greater meaning of existence for humankind. Even if I couldn’t verbalise it at the time, it’s what I wanted to know. Back then though I thought there was an answer.

Then throughout the years I was drawn to television that imagined other future existences and as I watch I want to be part of that future. I want to know a world where we not just explore but know, even to some small extent, what is beyond our planet. And it’s hard to imagine the magnitude of our planet, let alone the space beyond it.

But watching Atlantis take off gives me goosebumps. Looking at the technology they are going to upgrade and install on Hubble is absolutely incredible, and seeing those astronauts working on Hubble is awe-inspiring.

Imagine being in that shuttle. Imagine being in space. Imagine looking back at our planet from the silence of space. And imagine what the technology is going to give us for years to come.

There is no one answer to the meaning of life or of our existence. But this takes us closer to being able to imagine another piece of the puzzle that is our place in it.