Bruce: Thread on Land of Oden, with some talk of its past.

Eternity doesn't baffle me as much as where the universe ends does. Maybe it's because I don't really understand time anyway, but I think I've got a pretty good concept of space.

We think the stars are forever, because our own lives are so short in comparison. If a butterfly thought, it might just look at us as eternal beings. They don't think about things like that though. I'm pretty sure they just flit around all day looking for nectar or a butterfly with reciprocal parts to make more little butterflies. Except they probably don't know it makes more butterflies, it's just something that feels right at the time, sorta like what happens with humans after a few beers. Butterflies just come by it naturally.

They also try to not get eaten by birds. They probably don't think about things like reincarnation or afterlives or anything else that complicated. I'll bet they don't much like the idea of being eaten by a bird though. I don't think they worry at all though. They just flee. They flit, they flee, and they mate.

Humans are both blessed and cursed with the ability to think big thoughts. The world is a place of infinite mystery and beauty when we can imagine what butterflies think. It's can be a scary place when we imagine tomorrow and being eaten by birds and knowing forever will keep going on without us Butterflies have it easy.