At the very beginning

The latest headliner is that in a lab somewhere, someone succeeded in cloning a human embryo. Quite an achievement, and certainly a big step taken in terms of scientific and technological progress. If nothing else, it shows just how far mankind has come since the discovery of fire all those thousands of years past.

And yet, for all these discoveries that move us forward into the future, we’ve yet to find something that will shine a light on the (literally) dark recesses of the past. This doesn’t mean, however, that science has been lying idle. On the contrary, many are rabidly (some may say obsessively) finding torches of evidence which may point to us the exact point where it all began, and how. We have theories, we have assumptions, but thus far, nothing so concrete as to give us that one, unified Truth.

For such a long time, I’ve often wondered how people can be so enamored of the past, how they want so much to find out the truth about it and how it came about. What possible impact could wanting to find out about whether the Big Bang really happened have on us? After all, it happened so far back in the past, so why bother about it?

I suppose it is simply because we are naturally curious beings. Moreover, I suppose it is a feeling similar to an orphan who has not been given a chance to get to know his or her real parents. We feel that there is something missing, we seek to make ourselves whole by knowing where we came from. And, perhaps, if we can find out how we came to be, we may be able to find clues as to why we came to be.

Perhaps it is because we believe knowledge is power. And the act of knowing, of unlocking the secrets of the Universe, is a way of affirming that humankind is destined for something far greater than our eyes can see. In a sense, it is a debunking of the terrifying notion that we are but insignificant specks in the face of the vast expanse of the Universe. After all, how insignificant can one be if one holds the keys to the Ultimate Knowledge, the Universal Truth? There must be a purpose to our existence, and we seek answers skyward, from the Heavens.

There, up in the Heavens, billions of stars scatter throughout the Universe. They say we are made of the same stuff as they are, and this, I believe, should be a comfort for us all. This must mean that we, too, have the potential to stand out amidst a sea of darkness. If not literally, then metaphorically. Clues already point to our potential for greatness; the very fact that we have the capacity and drive to learn is proof of that. And, as we learn more and more about the Universe we are so intricately part of, we bring ourselves closer and closer to the stars we were part of so many years ago.

And so it goes, that in the search for that Ultimate Knowledge, we start the very beginning. It is, after all, as the song says, "a very good place to start."

Elbert is a sophomore college student studying Interdisciplinary Studies, which allows him to choose two tracks of study (he chose Creative Writing and Communications), but only because he originally wanted to take up Creative Writing and his parents won't let him be a starving artist; this is a bit of a compromise for both parties. Needless to say, his parents and he have to work on that trust thing. "Starving artist," indeed.