Cosmic Vertigo: How I Induced an Existential Crisis

It all started when I was watching a video on the largest known stars in the universe. The size comparisons sounded crazy to me - not unbelievable but rather unimaginable. Solar masses are a great way to discern massive objects in the universe but being told something is 10 solar masses is useless unless you have a reference to what a solar mass would be in relation to yourself

So, as I lay in bed that night, I started thinking about the Sun in relation to myself. That didn’t really work so I started a little smaller. I simply imagined myself in a city then zoomed out, still keeping myself in my mind’s eye as comparison. I continued to zoom out until I left the atmosphere, still keeping a small copy of myself in the back of my mind. From there, I was able to imagine the Earth in relation to the sun while also still imagining it in relation to myself. Finally, I moved to the big dawgs, I was able to imagine the most massive stars in relation to our sun, in relation to the earth and all of it being seen from the vantage of my original reference frame.

I immediately began to feel dizzy, light-headed but had to get up and turn the lights on.

Like, WTF just happened!?

Cosmic vertigo is the sensation of awe, often accompanied by dizziness and a feeling of complete insignificance when thinking intensely about the vastness of the universe or, in this case, very massive astronomical objects. Our minds are simply not meant to imagine such massive objects. Our brains evolved to navigate our world, EARTH. So, trying to mentally send yourself on a voyage to one of these bodies results in your brain freaking out. Totally valid. But it was an interesting feeling, nonetheless. Scary, but interesting. Almost like I caught the briefest glimpse of something I was forbidden to see.

Anyway, I have used the above method to recreate this effect using a variety of things we shouldn’t be thinking about or at least trying to mentally visualize. Whether or not this method would work for you, I don’t know. Try it out but be aware that it comes with a mini-existential crisis.