A short Heroic Plus One podcast by Brian Johnson that uses cosmic timescales to foster perspective and radical acceptance. Johnson outlines key ages (universe ~13.8 billion years; sun ~4.603 billion years; Earth ~4.543 billion years ±50 million), sketches a simple timeline (first single-celled life ~3.5 billion years ago; dinosaurs ~250 million years ago; modern humans a few hundred thousand years ago), and connects these facts to spiritual teachings (Michael Singer, Byron Katie) urging surrender to reality and gratitude.
Questions this episode answers
November 27, 2022.
Approximately 13.8 billion years.
Approximately 4.603 billion years.
Approximately 4.543 billion years (±50 million years).
About 3.5 billion years ago.
Hey hero, if you're enjoying these daily plus ones, make sure you head to heroic us to check out all of the other goodness we have to help you activate your best every day. And now, today's Plus One.
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Heroic Plus One. In our last couple 1s, we talked about the sun and the next closest star, appropriately named Proxima Centauri. We did some quick math and realized that the universe is insanely vast. Yes, that is the technical Description. And that 99.99% of the universe consists of absolutely nothing but darkness. Imagining the inevitable vastness of our universe should help us get a little perspective on our lives. Today. I want to chat about just how old the Earth and the sun and our universe are. Why? In addition to being a fascinating intellectual exercise, it is, as Michael Singer points out in Living Untethered, an equally powerful spiritual exercise. So, do you know how long ago the universe was created? Somehow scientists were able to peg the number at around 13.8 billion years ago. Think about that. Out of Nothing came something 13.8 billion years ago. My brain just exploded again. Now, next question. Do you know how old the Earth and the sun are? The sun is estimated to be 4.603 billion years old and the Earth is estimated to be about 4.543 billion years old, plus or minus about 50 million years. God bless whoever did that math. Now here's a follow up question. What was happening during that 9 billion year lag between the inception of the universe and and the creation of our solar system? Think about that for a moment as well. My brain just exploded yet again. Then after a billion years, the first single celled organism appeared on Earth about 3.5 billion years ago. Then it took another 3.25 billion years for dinosaurs to appear around 250 million years ago. Fast forward another quarter of a billion years and a couple hundred or a few hundred thousand years ago, depending on whose math you want to believe. Early humans showed up. And as Singer says, all of that led to your great great great grandmother meeting your great great great grandfather. All of which led to every single thing that had to happen, exactly the way it happened for the miracle that is you to come alive. And yet, in spite of the sheer miraculousness of every single moment, that had to happen literally exactly the way it happened for you to be here today. You complain about what's happening right now. As Singer says, that's so absurd, it's almost funny. And that's the starting point of his philosophy. Quit arguing with reality. It's bigger than you and me. It's been around longer than you and me. It will beat you and me in an argument every single time. We need to what he would call surrender to reality. We need to accept it completely, not with foolish resentment and or petty frustration. We need to radically accept reality. As Phil Stutts would say, we need to love what is. As Byron Katie would put it, this moment, with all its apparent imperfections is a sacred gift. Let's accept it, let's bless it. Then let's shake our heads in awe as we smile and go do what needs to get done. Plus one plus one plus one all day, every day, especially today.
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