I am standing outside, under the boundless firmament, on a moonless, hypnotically dark night. The galaxy spreads out before me- it is out there, above me, seemingly within reach. I can sense - I know - we are not alone. I have no empirical evidence to support this belief - I just know that it is true. The pettiness of human affairs is obvious now. We are almost nothing. The universe before me is filled with wonders that I have not the imagination to see - I long to discover them, to travel in the endless space, to be immortal in such a magnificent creation. The destiny of life, perhaps not mankind, but life, somewhere, is to experience the whole of this creation - to see it all, touch it all, inhale the entirety of the wonder. Will one of us ever know such completeness?