Thought-Provoking Places #1
On numerous occasions, I have passed by the Center of the Universe…in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. You might easily walk past without noticing a thing, except that someone is always testing it out with pure fascination.
The “Center of the Universe” is a little-known mysterious acoustic phenomenon. If you stand in the middle of the circle and make a noise, the sound is echoed back several times louder than it was made. It’s your own private amplified echo chamber.
This means that as you approach you will see a person or people standing in this precise spot making all sorts of noises, laughing with amazement. But, they sound normal to everyone else. So, they look pretty silly, even a little off their rockers.
Still, no one can resist the urge to try it out for themselves. As you enter the concentric circles of bricks and make any noise, you get a 360 degree echo. It’s just a fantastic place.
Most people tend to view the world as if their spot, their town, their state, their country, their type of people, their ideas are essentially the center of the universe. And they are fascinated and consumed with it. Of course, they sound kind of silly to all of the people from other spots, towns, states, countries, types of people, and ideologies.
You can easily identify with both as well you should. The Center of the Universe in Tulsa offers a stark reminder that we are so easily drawn into our own echo chambers, and also that our voices and perspectives are not the only ones.
Worth Repeating
You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.
-Anne Lamott
