"The World and its Infinite Finiteness" by Asfandyar H

 

So, what does the title actually mean? The title carries a heavy significance. The world is so small to an extent that it’s basically infinitely small, or “finite.” But first, let's set up the true definition of “the world.” Every definition of the word “world” on the internet seems to be synonymous with “Earth” and “globe.” In other words, our world. However, the “world” is much more than this which essentially makes our “world” appear even smaller. One definition of the “world” that I got from Wikipedia - I know, “very untrustworthy.” - defines this word as, “the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is.” This definition suits my topic the best and I plan to use both this and the first stated definition interchangeably, so try to keep up.

This leads me to the point I would like to make out of all this. The world truly is infinitely finite. For example, one fact I find interesting about the world is that the difference between the highest and lowest points on the earth's surface is estimated to be around the 12-mile mark. This comes from a statement made by Neil DeGrasse Tyson. In fact, most of this has taken inspiration from Neil DeGrasse Tyson and his ideologies. However, my “contribution” is a completely bipolar mixture of nihilism and optimism, two things that you probably would’ve never thought to have seen together, even in the same sentence. My approach is an incomplete yet almost homogenous mixture of my experiences and whatever else comes to mind in the months I’ve spent drafting this.

Continuing on, the nihilistic and optimistic approaches to this fact. The world is infinitely finite brings us to a fork in the road. Either one can “do everything “good” that there is to be done and make the most out of life” or “don’t do anything and do whatever you feel like doing, life is temporary.” These approaches are called “optimism” and “nihilism,” respectively. My ideology is a blend of these two. My ideology is optimism heavily backed up by nihilism to promote a benefit for all. By “benefit” I mean overall and long-term benefits, not something narrow-minded and egotistical. A couple of weeks ago, I was shopping for a gift basket I was putting together. During the process of this basket, I was given a spot in line by this sweet old lady who let me in front of her and continued to wait on me while I left my items with the cashier and ran around to grab a couple of things. After this was all done, I made a split-second decision to stay back and pay for her groceries. Her entire cart came out to about $100 and all of it was paid for. My only regret was that I had somewhere to be and I couldn’t help her load her groceries into her car. This displays my ideology, clearly. I’m using nihilism to support more optimism. In this situation, my reasoning to do this was because if nothing really matters and we “live on a rock,” then I can definitely give up some time and money to this cause. The reason I still regret not helping her load her cartful of groceries into her car is that I had already drafted this before that happened and now I’ve contradicted myself and will look horrible on the blog post. But then again, nothing really matters.