You are a child of the universe

You have a right to be here. Don't forget it!

Through the looking glass, with apologies to Sir John Tenniel

Every day we are bombarded with news, and not-quite-news, about what is going on in this world that is wrong, terrifying, harmful and/or unbelievably stupid. The word ‘bombarded’ is inaccurate because a lot of the bombardment is self-inflicted. No god or boss forces me to look at big and little screens and click on links that interest me, either by scaring me, titillating me, or attracting me by their intelligence (rare) or their pertinence. And what is pertinent?

Everything I look at, every cat, dog, and dancing baby video, every hand-wringing, the-world-is-going-to-hell missive, every look-what-these-a**holes-are-doing-now presentation, every pic of my friends’ children or grandchildren, every bit of advice about how to run my business, or what some creative or humanitarian person is doing — it’s all pertinent and it’s all relevant because at the moment I clicked on the link, it was what I wanted to do.

I enjoy or suffer the consequences. Full disclosure: although I sometimes close bad videos after 10 seconds, I also derive intense pleasure and happiness from lots of nonessential videos, because they are sweet and funny and show human creativity, skill and/or adorable goofiness.

Which brings me back to my as-yet-unrevealed point, which is, that whatever else I’m doing, however much I’m feeling helpless, frustrated, despondent and fearful — in fact, precisely because of feeling those ways — I’m always on the lookout for some kind of magic formula to help me feel better, if only for a moment. Cat videos, red wine, dancing, meditation — whatever gets me through the day and night.

Life is suffering, aka life sucks and then you die, though it sucks much worse for some than others. In my close-up world there is much pleasure as well as pain. In my close-up world, people are not killed by bombs falling from the sky and they do not have to watch their children starve to death. In my close-up world people don’t get shot for being brown or black, because I happen to live in rural New Hampshire where I see bears, moose, deer and wild turkeys far more often than I see a person with brown skin. But I am well aware that the consequences of being not-white in my country are often unfair, harsh and lethal. And I hate that this is so.

There are a lot of people in my state who suffer and/or die from opioid addiction. The use of opiates is not a sustainable way to deal with suffering.

Crappy things happen here and all over the world to all kinds of people. And lots of lovely and wonderful things happen also. We don’t hear about those quite as much. My set of Facebook friends provide me with a balanced mix of the uplifting, depressing, useful, disturbing, meaningful, and distracting.

Maybe all I’m ever looking for is something that says: hey, you are okay, in fact, you are more than okay — you are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. (from Desiderata, by Max Ehrmann)

image ©Janina Lamb

I want the direct message, and I also want the context: the big picture and the intensely small and personal picture all put together. Using the world ‘child’ implies a mother/father, and it implies that you are wanted and that you are loved. When I made the You are a Child poster I wanted to accentuate the personal in the context of the big picture.

Even though I seek relief from the pain of existence by crushing on transcendence, I, like everyone else, am stuck down here in the muck of lived life (unless I take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them), so what I really need is the courage to live. I need courage surrounded by an ‘en’ and a ‘ment’. 

I need to love myself as a representative of the cosmic order in a particular time and place. I need to know that I am a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars, because that is the kind of self-love that helps me see both the big picture and the profound responsibility I have as one of the details. And also the profound responsibility I don’t have.

I can’t tell other people what they should do, because they, like me, exist in a specific time and place, and only they, as individuals, can see where their particular responsibility lies. I can only love other people in a way that I hope will encourage them to wrestle with the angels of their existence, as we all must, if we are to make progress towards greater awareness.

Our lives are an art form in which we are both painter and painting. We have a right to be here. We are children of the universe. We can love. We can make art.

New version of this design intended for a poster and a t-shirt (maybe, or maybe it’s too detailed for that).