Sometimes I get discouraged by the size of the earth. Well, the size of everything really. There are so many details. Endless details. And there’s no way anyone is ever going to observe all of them—or even most of them.

No one will ever have the opportunity to visit every village on earth. Taste every cuisine. Meet every person. Sit for a cup of coffee in every coffee shop. In fact, no one will have the opportunity to inspect every itsy-bitsy detail of their own home. There’s details that get so intricate and small we can’t even see them. There just isn’t enough time!

I sometimes find myself discouraged by that. What if I’m missing out? I probably am. But I think that’s the bizarre nature of being alive—of existing at all. We get to experience some things, but not all things and the degree to which we experience them is influenced by a vast web of things almost no one will ever understand. At least not in their in life time. And if this is true, who could possibly assert that they’ve missed out on anything. Perhaps everyone else has missed out on experiencing existence through your breath and heartbeat.

It reminds me of the final verse of one of my favorite songs, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, by the Neutral Milk Hotel.

What a beautiful face
I have found in this place
That is circling all round’ the sun
And when we meet on a cloud
I’ll be laughing out loud
I’ll be laughing with everyone I see
Can’t believe how strange it is to be anything at all

(Listen to the song here)