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Zoom in, Zoom out

There is a famous YouTube video "Cosmic Eye" which zooms in and zooms out. The video is available at the following link:

https://youtu.be/8Are9dDbW24?si=BuaSGYm7tzXtrMBC

The reality is always so grand. However, will a bacteria lying somewhere in a part of our body be able to realize the vastness of reality? Would a cell forming part of one of our body parts be ever able to realize the vastness of reality? Would human beings ever realize the vastness of the cosmic reality? The universe itself is expanding at the speed of light and even if we can make some spaceship, traveling at the speed of light, we can't be able to travel the boundaries of the universe. The diameter of the known universe is 94 billion light-years meaning thereby that light itself will take 94 billion years to travel across the universe. 

We can't zoom out to the reality. We can neither zoom in to quantum reality. The strongest of the microscopes in this world are electron microscopes which can zoom in around 10 million times. This too is nowhere near to the quantum reality. The number of atoms in a gram of any substance is in the range of 23rd power of 10 as against the strongest of the microscopes having a capacity of zoom in 10 million is just 7th power of 10. Probably, we will never be able to zoom in on the atoms and leave aside sub-atomic particles like bosons and fermions. 

Our range of awareness is quite narrow and within that narrow range, we keep zooming in and zooming out. The human brain can not be aware of many things at the same time. The following video (unless watched earlier) is quite helpful in understanding the limitations of our awareness:

https://youtu.be/KB_lTKZm1Ts?si=UA1GoyKHi9f0ouo3

Our awareness is quite limited. We can either count the passes of notice the bear and can't do both at the same time. That's why multitasking is so stressful. When we concentrate on a task at hand, we generally miss the awareness of the ecosystem. We zoom in on the task at hand. There is no doubt that zooming in is a necessity, While writing this post, I have to zoom in to the keyboard failing which, I will end up typing the wrong words. We have to concentrate on the book at hand while preparing for the examination. we have to be attentive to the expectations of our partners to make the relationships work. We have to be attentive to the presentation in the meeting to have a productive meeting. We have to concentrate on the targets to be efficient. 

However, the problem is not with being attentive or zooming in on the task at hand. The problem is when we get fixated and lose our ability is zoom out. Zooming out is necessary to understand the wider picture of life. If we remain zoomed in on anything for a long period, we tend to lose awareness of the larger picture of life. We become knowledgeable and skillful but lose wisdom. Wisdom comes with an awareness of the larger picture of life. That's why people end up losing relationships to get promotions at the office. People choose completion and winning the race over friendship. People choose power and positions over love. 

There is no doubt that we have to zoom in whenever we carry out any high-concentration job. Zooming in helps us develop different skills and competencies. Almost all the skillful and successful people in this world have a high capacity to zoom in on the task at hand. However, unless we learn to zoom out, there is a very high probability of getting fixated on what we have zoomed in on. These fixations make us obsessed and result in many mental disorders. That is probably the reason why the chances of mental disorders are quite high in the people carrying our high-concentration works. Meditation is a very effective tool to zoom out. When we meditate, we concentrate on breathing and zoom out of the world of thoughts. In the process, we examine sensations on different body parts and zoom out of those as well. That leaves us with pure breath. Three different dimensions of breath which too merge slowly into one, to make us realize the vastness of the "field of consciousness'. Meditation helps us develop the capacity to zoom in and zoom out at will and helps us be skillful and wise at the same time. 


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