Assuming a Cosmic Perspective

Architect Eero Saarinen said, “Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context—a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan.”

You can broaden the context of this advice. There’s our planet Earth (one of countless planets), the Solar System around our Sun (one of countless stars), the Milky Way Galaxy (one of countless galaxies), and ultimately, the Universe. Each realm blends into the next, extreme in scale, scope—mystery. Th...