The universe is at once huge and infinitesimally tiny.
The universe is the sum of all the experiences that you are capable of. We all perceive the universe in different ways; a beautiful flower to one person may be a weed to another.
We live in a world of perception. Everything we experience, everything we know of this universe, we learn through one of our five senses. Whether something feels hot or cold, whether something smells good or bad, whether something looks beautiful or ugly, all depends on our perceptions.
Add to this that all of us are different. We are, each of us, the product of our upbringing and our environment. How we perceive the world is affected by how we have interacted with this world. To an honest man, the world is filled with honest people; show me a man that believes all others lie and you can be sure you cannot trust him. So, to paraphrase the quote, we see the universe as we are.
Perhaps you've experienced this... a person tells you to give them your opinion of their red shoes, but to you they are wearing pink shoes. Or maybe someone tells you that these flowers smell simply beautiful, but you find them to be simply awful.
So, because we each perceive the universe in a different way, we each see a different version of reality. What I see and you see is never going to be exactly the same.
That sounds bleak. If you think about it, you are all all alone in a universe that only you can see. No one else can ever see the world in exactly the same way you do. There is no other person in the universe that is able to see the universe the same way you do.
But also consider this. That we all perceive reality in a different light allows us to see things in shades of gray. The world can not be just black or white, for black and white have different meanings for every single person in the world. So our unique perceptions allows for the universe to be infinitely diverse and so beautiful in so many ways that we simply have no idea of. And it also means that the universe needs us, creatures capable of recognizing beauty, for it to be beautiful.
If there were no one to see a sunset, would it be beautiful or would it just be? Can any other creature pause and notice the beauty of this world? Could a mouse relate the beauty of a blossom to another mouse? The universe requires us to appreciate its beauty. Otherwise, all of creation becomes mundane and ordinary, a random collection of atoms with no other meaning. The universe requires those that can appreciate it.
And it is in that that I find the most subtle beauty of all. I have long loved language. That we have a tool that allows us to share our perceptions with those around us comforts me. It means that we are not alone in our universe, but rather that we can share our insights with all those that also exist here with us. And I believe that we should - and must - share our visions with each other.
