one true thing

Heres one of the most fascinating facts about planet Earth: the only orientation that comes naturally to us humans is vertical. Up and Down. Orthogonal, if you please. Not East, West or somewhere in between. Just Down (with Up being its diametric opposite). Nobody appreciates this more vividly than a high-wire walker, or a top of Ferris wheel balancer (like Nick Wallenda).

The truly amazing thing about Earth is that things like Up, Down, and Top and Bottom are all very localized (relative) perspectives. If you surveyed a straight line around Earths surface, and placed exact duplicates of this Ferris wheel every 6,000 miles, if you were a ways off out in space and zoomed in on those 4 acrobats- on- top- of- Ferris- wheels, one would look like this one , and the other 3 would look like this:

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. Pretty amazing, isnt it? The point is that there is no such thing as The Top of The World (or the bottom, or the side). Wherever you happen to be situated, your perception is that you are standing On Top of the world. But from the perspective of a guy standing 12,000 (geodesic) miles away, HE is on Top of the world, and YOU are hanging upside down.

Gravity is what makes this work so elegantly, so simply, so dependably. The rules are the same morning, noon and night, and at every single spot on Earths wide surface. No exceptions. No favoritism. Every single particle of Earthly matter: is joined at a common center, by the straight-line force of the Gravitational Field we call Earth, and therefore also has a common natural tendency to sit still. It is like the physical Earth is one body, and the force of her Gravitational Field is like her Spirit. Anyway, one is visible, one is notbut both are as real as any other characteristic Physics of our home. So Earth is a congregation of matter maintained by Gravity in a spherical form. (Which is why the principles of Sea Level and FerrisWheel-balancing work the same at all geographic locations.) ERGO: wherever you may wander, the One True Thing you will know is which way DOWN is. That appears to be Natures Rule #1 about Gravity. That is so much more perfect than anything a human has devisedor even thought upthat it ought to be pretty humbling. And it ought to also be pretty comforting to appreciate that the same Nature that created Gravity also created you and me. That ought to make a pretty good back story or starting point for every venture we set out on. So it seems to me, and I have given it considerable thought. 2011, C N Gifford, (Who is: The Big Chief of Earth Science. If you think Im not, youre wrong.)