Offbeat Spirituality

September 5th marked the 45th anniversary of Voyager 1. Its most iconic image was of planet Earth from distant space called - The Pale Blue Dot - which was taken at a distance of 3.7 billion miles, from the far edge of the solar system.  This image is a reminder of how precious, delicate and ephemeral life is. Throughout history, humans have taken their lives for granted. We have always led with the conceited assumption that we are special, central, and significant; and each death has proven us wrong.  Our position in space is ordinary. Our existence is an endlessly repeated cycle of exercises in living & dying. Seeing this image is a thing of calming beauty. All our joy and suffering… every creator and destroyer of civilization… every superstar, every politician, a person of influence is on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.  The truth brought out of this is the absolute futility and delusion of conceit: the fallacy of a superiority, a superior gender, of nation...