As a child Mrs J read many of Jules Verne’s books. She still loves them in the way you can only love books you’ve fallen for as a child. New generations already feel about the Harry Potter series the way Mrs J feels about Jules Verne’s books, but Mrs J will always be Steam Punk and Proud.

Mrs J got to thinking about old Jules today because of his book “Journey to the Center of the Earth”. Geologically, it’s probably possible to pinpoint the center of the Earth. Astronomically, the center of the Universe should also, in theory, be possible to determine. Though it’s probably exponentially more difficult, considering the size of the Universe compared to the size of the Earth.

Still, science has nothing to do with determining the center of the Universe in our minds.

As a small child your mother is the center of everything. As adults, our partners and children are likely to be our focus. So it’s probably not that surprising that we consider the immediate geographical environment of our loved ones to be the center of the Universe. And there’s a lot of media around to encourage us to do just that.

When Mrs J lived in Scandoland, many years ago, she was surrounded by people that behaved like the center of the Universe was the next “big” (20 000+ inhabitants) town. Moving on, geographically, the towns progressively became capitols, countries, regions and hemispheres, according to where she lived. The center of the Universe kind of jumps around that way.

Rightly or wrongly, consciously or subconsciously, more or less informed, Mrs J thinks we all have a center of the Universe in our minds. She would like more people to have a broader perspective on things. At the same time she’d like more people to feel their Universe is small enough for them to make a difference in it.

Mrs J’s Universe has always been big. Thanks to Jules, among others. What about yours?