With The Stars...

Have you ever sat outside late at night in the middle of nowhere and looked up at the stars? Just lay there as the glare of artificial lights fades from your eyes, and watched the stars wink into being one by one until the dark night sky can hardly be seen between them. Look to the horizon to spot Venus lurking nearby, and realize that you are looking at something that is impossibly far away- millions of miles! It would take generations to travel to the place you see- and yet it gleams with such raw, young power that even our weak human eyes can pick it out of the sky!

You know that feeling? The feeling you get in your gut that travels lightly up your spine when it suddenly hits you- that all this, EVERYTHING you see up there is only a hundredth of a fraction of the universe, and yet to your small mind it seems like infinity? The strangely sweet thrill as you're blown away by the realization that you are so small compared even to this miniscule bit of the universe you call home. The awe, the wonder, the sudden overflow of thoughts and feelings that can hardly be defined, the overwhelming awareness that lasts for only a brief moment during which time is surreal and you can almost, almost feel the world turning beneath you- That feeling?

I call it starstruck.