Six Seconds in the History of Earth

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On summer nights, mayflies fly around the light.

We look at them and think, What a small, insignificant life.They live for such a short time and disappear.

But is it really so?

From the point of view of life, they are making the greatest flight of their lives, following the light and giving everything they have in the final stage of their existence.

There is no insignificant life in this world.

And humans—what makes us so great?

We walk around as the top predator on Earth as if we were something extraordinary. But from the Earth’s point of view, perhaps there is nothing particularly special about us either.

The Earth is about 4.54 billion years old.

Now imagine compressing all of that time into a single 24-hour day.

Modern humans would appear at around 11:59:54 p.m.

Only about six seconds before midnight.

Then what about one human life?

Even if we live for a hundred years, on that same 24-hour clock our entire life would be less than 0.002 seconds.

Not even close to one second.

We come and go in a moment.

So are we really in a position to look at a mayfly and call its life insignificant?

This is why I think we should respect all life and live our own lives with humility.

If I matter, so do you.

The people we meet in this life matter too.

We were born into the same time, walk part of this road together, and somehow meet along the way.

Some we meet as family.Some as friends.Some simply pass through our lives.

There are good relationships, and there are relationships that make our lives difficult.

But think about it.

In 4.54 billion years of Earth’s history, we happened to be alive during these same few decades.

And somehow, we met.

Isn’t that strange?

Isn’t that something?

We are all living together in the final few seconds of Earth’s long history.

We are the people of the same time, sharing this brief part of the road.

If I matter, so do you.

Perhaps this is also something we learn through practice.

In Tai Chi, Qigong, and Yoga, we slow down, breathe, and pay attention to the life that is here—our body, our breath, and the people practicing beside us.

Practice is not separate from life.

It is a way of coming back to the life that is already here.

And really—

what is the point of practice if it does not help us feel more alive?