Science says the universe has existed for 14 billions years. It also says this planet is 4.5 billion years old.

Human civilization as we know it is young, and has only existed for 6,000 years, or about .0001% of earth’s age. Our lifespan is an even smaller fraction… if earth’s age was equivalent to the surface area of all its land, then the area representing a human life would only be a 500 foot square.

In terms of size, the known universe is nearly 500 billion times the Milky Way, and the galaxy is 10^28 times as big as our earth. Yes, that’s a 1 with 29 zeros behind it. In fact, if we scaled the Milky Way down to fit inside the diameter of our solar system, earth would be smaller than the size of a water molecule.

We develop a sense of self-importance because we view reality through our own eyes — yet we can only see so far. Sobering comparisons like these show us that we are meaningless. How do we deal with such enormous insignificance….