Does anyone think that one person is important to the universe?

Question

Our world is like one grain of sand on a sandy beach one mile long and one hundred yards across. Would the universe miss that grain of sand when washed out to sea? The beach is just our galaxy which is like a pebble on a rocky shore and the universe is like the entire shorline.

Upon our planet there is a billion billion life forms. Why is man so important to the universe which may well be but a mote in God's eye?

Our place in the universe, even as a planet, is minute and our place on the planet isn't as great as we like to think it is. Why should a mythical God care about you or the human race? If it is as powerful as alleged, it has more in the arsenal than us. We are so low in the scheme of things as to matter not one wit. To think otherwise is hubris in the extreme.

Answer 1

I agree.
But I would like to add. . . . (my two cents, which may not be worth anything). . . . .
Also is it not the grains of sand the make up the beach? Does that not mean that every grain is as important as the one next to it?

We may not be any more important then the flowers, the birds, and the butterflies in the grand scheme of the universe, but b/c we humans are experiencing our lives and our existence it is important to us because they are OUR experiences and OUR history.
Does the macaw consider us important in it's life?? Probably not. The monarch butterfly?? I doubt it.

Your problems are not any more important then mine ,universally speaking, but because my problems are my problems then they are more important to me than your's are. My existence is more important to me than your existence.

Answer 2

Reminds me of an old nursery rhyme:

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

The point is obvious: small things can affect big things. Any particular human may not seem much by any scale, but given the right set of events, who knows what vast regions might be impacted by such an insignificant beginning?

We can put it another way too. Value is not proportional to size, or mass, or any of those other things the universe has on us.

Here's an example: I'll trade you your legs for the horsehead nebula. I get to saw off your legs, and that nebula will be yours. Deal? I'll even throw in the nearest three neighboring galaxies. Or perhaps the entire rest of the universe.

All those other things are useless to you. It doesn't matter HOW much I offer - they are of no appreciable value. Your legs (hopefully) you use well every day. And we can find even more valuable smaller things, if we want.

Biologists will culture trillions of bacteria on hundreds of plates and a cost that will feed nations in order to find a single gene or protein from time to time. Who is to say that the entire vastness of the universe is not solely for the purpose of producing a human being?

Answer 3

In the history of humanity, we are tend to believing that the whole universe is centered on just us and the world that we know. Since we are isolated in a closed system, we only have ourselves to think of and not of the possible life that exists out there. We think. We want to survive. By doing so, we want to believe that we are better and more important than other species. We constructed our thoughts as seeing humans of being of divine importance.

No, not one thing is important. At least that is what I can concieve. If you look around closely, you would see that there is tremendous diversity amoung cultures, peoples, and species of this world. How can one be more favored than the other? How could any planet or galactic system be any important or better? They all have nearly the same elements that are composed of our solar system but are different in how they are put together. Diversity matters.

Answer 4

Yes.

I am going on a bit of tangent on this answer, but
it seems to lend itself to the context of this question.

To abstractly state that one person is insignificant to the
universe is to say that potentially all people are insignificant
to the universe. If all people are insignificant to the universe
then that might imply that Earth's destiny has been delegated
to Earth. Such delegation might imply that Earth must be
significant to itself, otherwise it might not exist for lack
of significance. If people can be considered to have
a profound effect on Earth then people must be significant
to Earth. If the forces of the universe do not consider
Earth to be significant then Earth must not be a significant
threat to the balance of the universe. Therefore, it
could be stated that the universe has entrusted the
responsibility of Earth's future to people. Therefore,
people must be responsible to some degree making
them important. If people are important and people
is plural for person then somewhere within the
summation of persons there must be a significant
number of important people(persons).

Answer 5

We humans are important because we are by far the smartest animals on earth. We may marvel at the strength of a gorilla or the ability of birds to fly, but I think human intelligence is the most incredible feature of the earth. We are the only living things capable of destroying most of the planet. If we were to systematically drop atomic bombs all over the earth, we would destroy just about everything but bacteria and one-celled organisms. So, therefore, I would say one person is important to the universe. What if one person was largely responsible for blowing up the world? They'd be pretty important.

Answer 6

So, what do you think, will God consider our beams or will He take the mote off His eye!0!

IF you cannot see a world in a grain of sand, then you will never see heaven in a wild flower either.

Good luck!

Answer 7

Th universe does not care about man or about anything. The universe is a collection of stars, planets, energy etc. It does not have feelings or thought. Human beings are important only to other human beings. But isn't this enough? Why do we need to feel important on a cosmic scale? I am important to my family and friends and they are important to me. This is all I ask and all I need.

Answer 8

The very nature of your statements place mankind at the very bottem of the barrel; yet, man is linked to creation in everyway.

All that you see and hear and speak of is man made; your perceptions are so grounded you see what you wish and this is ok.

Look beyond what your eyes and ears tell you and release your ideas of "God". I sense some truth may come your way.

Answer 9

Trillions and trillions drop of water makes an ocean, so every drop of water is as important as the ocean. Just like a single cell is as important as the whole living being without it there would be abnormality. One ant seems like a small number but it contributes for the survival of the whole community which makes it as important as the whole community. Man may be just a microscopic dot in god's eye but that doesn't mean we are less importance to him and doesn't care about us.

Answer 10

As important as anything else would be. Importance itself is a human concept. All things are cause and effect, yes. In that sense, things are "important" to the occurances of situational happenings. But in and of themselves, there is no importance but what we give to them. With ultimate abandon, comes ultimate freedom. Abandon yourself from outcomes and you'll find freedom like never before experienced.