Opinion: A cosmic outlook is the perfect detox after 'archaic and obsolescent' coronation

One of the most famous images in history is the ‘Pale Blue Dot’, a photograph of Earth taken in 1990 by NASA’s Voyager 1.

The image inspired the title of scientist Carl Sagan’s book, “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space.”

The words Sagan used to describe this image have always stuck with me:

“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every ‘superstar’, every ‘supreme leader’, every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there - on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”

Given recent events, the part of that quote that most sticks out is ‘every king and peasant’.

As human beings, we have a natural tendency to collectivise around ideas and we often perform bizarre rituals to validate and make sense of them.

Last weekend, across the pond, humans collectivised under the idea of monarchy and crowned a new unelected king who will rule over them.

The pageantry, ritual and symbolism of the coronation was a perversely captivating spectacle.

Archaic and obsolescent to me, you may beg to differ, my mind soon drifted back to the image of the Pale Blue Dot.

King Charles III will now join a long list of ‘every king and peasant’ to have inhabited this small mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

And when we consider the immense size of the universe, it becomes almost comical to consider that we treat and look at any other human being in this way.

Merely by accident of birth, this one human is treated like some other-worldly being.

When called upon, the Pale Blue Dot image can serve as a humbling reminder of our place in the vast expanse of the universe and how little these titles actually mean.

Yes, Charles might be considered a king to some, but only to a small minority of earthlings on a tiny speck of dust floating through the vast and infinite cosmos.

To me, the image serves as a great purpose in highlighting the absurdity of some of our species’ most outlandish rituals.

Now, let me get this clear, I’m not saying that there is no need for rituals and ritual practice.

Rituals have played a huge role in the lives of almost every person who has ever lived.

When people participate in shared rituals, whether they are religious or secular in nature, they feel a sense of connection with others who share their beliefs and values.

This shared experience can be a powerful tool for building relationships and fostering social cohesion.

I’m just saying that the Pale Blue Dot can, when needed, help us to put things into perspective.

It can allow us to both critique and appreciate the fragility and beauty of our planet and our shared humanity, in all of its madness.

And yes, I do think that the rituals associated with monarchy and the coronation of a king are a bit mad, especially when you consider it with the Pale Blue Dot in mind.

It’s my view that the feeling of cosmic humility can be both empowering and liberating.