Amor Propio, Antes Que Cualquier Otro Amor.

“That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there—on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

— CARL SAGAN about The Pale Blue Dot, taken 30 years ago on February 14, 1990, by the Voyager 1 space probe from 6 billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles) away from Earth.

Celebrate Earth Day with some cosmic perspective brought to you by NASA and Carl Sagan

“That’s here. That’s home. That’s us.

On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there–on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

-Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot

VISUAL PROCESS 1 by sculptor, Serge Jupin.

“Sobre tus estrías escribo mis más lindas poesías, pues sólo en tu cuerpo encontré las líneas perfectas para mis rimas.”   — Andy Campos.

The Dying Saint Sebastian (Detail), 1789. by François-Xavier Fabre (1766-1837)

“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”

Carl Sagan. The photo, taken by the Voyager I in 1990, shows the Earth from nearly 4 billion miles away.

“Debería hacer un correo electrónico, dos cartas por correo postal o un mensaje enorme con un montón de emojis por whatsapp o Messenger. O tal vez está bien esto de escribirte en el silencio absoluto. Voy a decir tonterías como las que solía decir entonces. Se sabía perfectamente lo que te quería, y lo poco y lo loco que hacía diariamente por asegurarme que estuvieras bien, que comieras y te abrigaras. A veces parecía más tu mamá pidiendo que si salías por la noche llevaras suéter y no tomaras demasiado. Y que te cuidaras. Siempre. Le hice un montón de dibujos porque me gustaba su cara cuando los veía, y me gustaba la magia que salía de pronto cuando lo veía fijamente y se ponía todo rojo, no sabía que eso funcionará con él. No sabía que yo podía hacer que alguien se ruborizara así. Nunca supe qué fue eso. Y los chocolates y las palomitas y los tacos y contarle tanto de mi vida en esa pequeña ciudad. Que me llevara a esperar el bus y me pidieras que avisara al llegar. Que se enojara porque no comía bien, y porque estaba un tanto loca. Lo siento, sigo estándolo. Y me reparo a diario. Yo no sé qué pasaba por mi vida entonces, ni qué era lo que tú pensabas pero, señor, eso se parecía un poco a la felicidad …porque quizá fuiste algo así como mi trampolín amortiguador después de una caída fuerte en la que cada día pensaba que me moría. Literal. Eras como el resto de sol tras la lluvia, o el agua tras la deshidratación. Pero, qué veías cuando me veías… No sé qué pasaba por tu cabeza, no lo sabré ya más, pero, señor, por mi cabeza pasaba tanto como se reflejaba en todo lo que hacía. Soy tan básica que transpiro cursilerias… Y bien, de modo que la forma más correcta de desearte feliz cumpleaños es escribirte de esta forma que no podrás leer. Aunque sé que te gustaba lo que escribía y te dejaba espontáneamente en post-its para que los leyeras al estar solito. Feliz cumpleaños por ser tú y ser un buen ciudadano tanto tiempo. No sé por qué siempre he sido tan cobarde que no puedo odiar a nadie pese a las adversidades. No te odio. Necesito pensarte dos veces al día como mínimo cada 11:11. Espero que el frío no te apriete demasiado ni la vida lo haga. Señor, usted ni me extraña ni se acuerda ni le importa, y no espero que lo haga porque estaría mal que lo hiciera. Quiérase. Yo lo quiero un poco aún. Yo le quise demasiado y ahora quiero que sea grande porque usted es más de lo que se ve. Me acuerdo, y me consta que usted puede ser una buena persona si se lo propone. Todos estamos locos, sólo hay locos que hacemos arte y locos que son arte… Pero no es nada personal… Porque aquello no fue nada personal. Feliz cumpleaños, 11:11”

— Clara Ajc

“El arte y el amor son lo mismo: es el proceso de verse en cosas que no son ustedes.”

— Chuck Klosterman

La tierra más lejana (1955) — Alejandra Pizarnik

“Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.”

— Carl Sagan, from Pale Blue Dot