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Blackberry's avatar

Isn't it so freaking amazing that we're here (details)?

Asked by Blackberry (33949points) May 9th, 2012

Guys, we’re animals that are alive. We’re the product of billions of years of a meticulous process. We can do cartwheels and climb mountains. How often do you think about stuff like this?

Do you do something to make you happy everyday? We’re going to be gone before we know, and that’s most likely it. What’s the last “feel-good” stimuli you received?

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44 Answers

gailcalled's avatar

Ten minutes ago I watched Milo stalk an ant.

This afternoon I saw the great blue heron fishing at my pond and I picked 6 pink lily-of-the-valley, which re perfuming the entire room.

My two lovely gay friends up the road got married two weeks ago and as part of the celebration, they are stopping by on Sat. for champagne and a threesome to, I hope, gang up on MIlo and cut his nails.

Hawaii_Jake's avatar

In recent days, I have begun assembling the paperwork required to apply for a job in the mental health field that I am qualified for. I’m thrilled. I’ve been on disability for 5 years, so this might be the beginning of getting back into the workforce.

AngryWhiteMale's avatar

Recently re-connected with one of the people I value most.

JLeslie's avatar

I often say to my husband, “can you believe we met one day, totally different backgrounds, grew up different places, and now here we are married?” Kind of the same feeling of many different variables coming together to put me in the same place as him at the same time.

As far as the earth, universe, and life as we know it. Yes, I marvel at it, especially as I get older. I do have happiness almost every day. It’s in the little things. Watching the deer in my backyard, helping a friend, accomplishing my work, watching a favorite TV show, driving with the top down on a beaitiful day.

linguaphile's avatar

Recently re-connected with one of the people I cherish the most.

nikipedia's avatar

Do you listen to Radiolab?

deni's avatar

I think about stuff like this every day, and I comment on it often, and people get weirded out sometimes. Seriously. I’ll look at a tree for a minute and start thinking about it and be like “Do you realize what trees are? Humongous plants that essentially support us! Do you realize what you’re looking at when you look at the moon or at space?” I am really happy when someone is as fascinated as me, but it isn’t always the case. Yes we are fucking incredible. Even looking at a cross section of the womb with a fetus in it makes my jaw drop.

Blackberry's avatar

This is great guys, let’s keep going.

@nikipedia I haven’t even heard of it.

@deni This is why people think I’m weird as well.

gailcalled's avatar

@linguaphile: Good. Remember that during your surprise party on the 12th. I am trying to think of ways you can surprise your ex- without either upsetting your son or embarrassing yourself too much.

How about a Chippendale with a singing telegram for him? Probably both too upsetting and too embarrassing, yes?

Blackberry's avatar

@JLeslie Your answer reminds me of a quote from Carl Sagan’s wife. She essentially said the same thing.

nikipedia's avatar

Dude, this is gonna blow your fucking mind: Radiolab.

Whenever I’m down on science and I hate my job and my lab and my research and everything about grad school, Radiolab reminds me how cool it is just to be existing and doing stuff on this planet.

Blackberry's avatar

@nikipedia Wow, what should I listen to first?

Simone_De_Beauvoir's avatar

Alex held me while I cried about how ridiculous things are and wouldn’t let me go.

mazingerz88's avatar

@Blackberry Dude, how many Tequila shots so far-? Lol.

Agree, it’s freakin amazing. Aside from sometimes being surrounded by death, emotionally devastating human suffering…it’s deeply fascinating to just be feeling all these vibrations and occasional mind bending orgasms.

Haleth's avatar

Amazing, but nearly inevitable. The universe is a huge place and there are trillions of other stars out there. Life would probably happened somewhere.

This weekend my oldest friend and I shared a bottle of wine and a picnic and then fell asleep on a hillside by the bay. It was simple but fantastic.

ETpro's avatar

It’s at leasr as unlikely as Douglas Adams’ Infinite Improbability Drive and that is precisely why we must be here, and able to ask how come we’re here.

Blackberry's avatar

@ETpro I’ve never seen the movie or read the books, but I’ve always meant to.

@mazingerz88 I don’t drink tequila, at all.

@Haleth I frequently go hiking up the Stairway to Heaven. I’ll have some wine and eat some food up there and think about life. It’s so good.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Love is pretty bad ass. :)

ETpro's avatar

@Blackberry By all means, read the books. The hunor comes through far more clearly in them, IMHO.

Haleth's avatar

@ETpro I love those books! It’s been ages since I’ve read Douglas Adams.

@Blackberry That looks like a pretty cool place. There’s a great park near where I live with whitewater rapids, woods, and hiking trails, and I love to hang out there.

augustlan's avatar

It really is amazing, isn’t it? Today hasn’t really been my day, but I usually do something that brings a little joy to my heart.

ZEPHYRA's avatar

Simply made it through another day which is becoming increasingly difficult.

ucme's avatar

I was born happy & have remained so ever since & I have every intention of continuing this process until the day I pop my clogs.
Oh & stop swearing in the question title, it’s not big & it’s not clever, so unbecoming ;¬}

augustlan's avatar

I just found a little joy! I learned something new, and that always makes me happy.

DominicX's avatar

I have friends who smoke a lot of weed, so I have to think about this quite often :P

lillycoyote's avatar

It is amazing! There are so many days when I am jaded, cynical and bored, and then there are days when I find everything amazing. And this is going to make me sound like an idiot, but there are days when I find something as simple and basic as water amazing; when I open my faucet and let water just run over my hand because the fact that water exists and it simply is what it is, is just so amazing.

poisonedantidote's avatar

I was about to ask something very similar just the other day. What amazes me is not that we are here, but how we are here.

Is it just me, or isnt it a bit strange that we exist in the universe where we just happen to grind up plant matter to make a thing called “bread” so we can shove it in one hole and pump it out another. That we just happen to live in a universe where the laws of physics will allow for fridge magnets and BDSM torture dungeons, and that we just so happen to be in a universe where you can call someone a cunt and offend them by doing so. To me, these simple things often amaze me.

JLeslie's avatar

@Blackberry I have to try to find that quote.

LuckyGuy's avatar

@nikipedia Thanks for telling us Radiolab! I’m listening about fetal cells right now. It’s great!

SuperMouse's avatar

First, @nikipedia I love Radiolab. That show never ceases to make me smile, make me think, and make my day. I have been a huge Robert Krulwich fan for years and this show suits him perfectly.

One thing to heilp someone appreciate every single day like almost nothing else is having children. Even now as they are approaching (or in the throes of) adolescence, they seem to grow and change every week! I appreciate their developing their unique personalities and perspective on life, their sense of humor, and watching them grow into their own people. Then of course every single day I stop and thank God (or my lucky stars, or the universe for those who do not believe in a higher power) that I am one of the fortunate few who has found the love of my life and I get to spend every day with him.

syz's avatar

I do think about it a lot, especially when I’m watching incredibly complex yet innate behaviors (currently, all the momma birds raising babies in my yard).

deni's avatar

@Blackberry High five! One time I saw the moon and it was full and big and it was so shockingly beautiful that I screamed so loud my friend almost wrecked the car. (To be fair I did the same thing with the ice cream truck about a week later) but….yeah. science. we could have some good discussions. Ever had a beautygasm? It’s a mental orgasm from seeing something so beautiful you can’t even believe it. My first beautygasm occurred in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument in Utah. That place is breathtaking. Sorry I am rambling

Blackberry's avatar

@deni Definitely. The best beautygasm I had was when I was deployed in the Mediterranean, there was no moon light at all, and I was in the middle of the ocean on a ship: I’ve never seen so many stars in my entire life all at once. I can’t even explain what it looked like. It was just a blanket of the entire universe in my eyes.

We had a large telescope on the ship so I spent awhile looking at it all. Ahhh, science….

deni's avatar

@Blackberry I can’t even IMAGINE! I’ve seen some big skies but I bet having LITERALLY no lights around and no moon is just, WOAH, what. What. Oh my god.

Nullo's avatar

What’s the last “feel-good” stimuli you received?

I just got back from Star Trek: The Exhibition, and an IMAX screening of ST9, visited with gift tickets (instead of $17.00 ones) courtesy of a friend. So yeah, that was a lot of fun. Could barely contain myself for the movie. I love IMAX.

And hey, did you know that we’re sending a car-sized rover to Mars, one powered by a Radioisotope thermoelectric generator? That’s much the same power source used to run the galactic empire in Asimov’s Foundation. The future, ladies and gents, is now.

Neizvestnaya's avatar

I think about it all the time, very happy to be a long living member of the food chart elite.

marinelife's avatar

I love being alive. last night my husband and I shared a few laughs. I love that connection.

Hypocrisy_Central's avatar

I do agree it is very remarkable that we are here and what we can do, even though we differ on how that came to be.

WillWorkForChocolate's avatar

Yes, I think about things like that all the time. My last “feel-good stimuli” was to do some more gardening. I discovered a passion for gardening recently, so now I’m in the dirt all the time. For Mother’s Day, I received some gorgeous new red impatiens, so I got those babies planted, fed and watered before we left for all of our activities today.

Dr_Lawrence's avatar

I don’t think of such things often enough. I guess I’m too focused on my problems and the obstacles I face in dealing with them.

wallabies's avatar

@DominicX LOL! Why do some people get so philosophical and deep?!

A delish meal w/ a crap bottle of wine but the label art was nice.

bookish1's avatar

What a great question. Too bad Fluther doesn’t have a button for “Fantastic question.” I think about this all the time.

One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite rock groups, 311, is “how strange we should be here at all!” I really enjoy how they express awe and gratitude at life all the time.

My last feel-good stimuli was a bowl of French vegetable soup and lentils and half a fresh baked baguette and butter on a rainy day :)

linguaphile's avatar

Someone I knew was killed on Sunday while on his morning jog by a hit and run driver in Austin, TX. My Facebook status feed has been ablaze for the past few days with comments about him and how wonderful he was. I didn’t like him- he was cruel to me on several occasions but I’m fully aware that his treatment of me doesn’t negate him being good to others.

But, moments like that do make me think about life and how fragile it is—how fragile we are, really. It’s amazing I’m still here- I’ve had close calls with death- all of us have, and we’re still here, still sharing and connecting. I agree, @bookish1, gratitude is the way to go.

On this guy’s birthday, June 11, one of his best friends had a baby.

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