Total Perspective Vortex
There is a series of books by Douglas Adams called “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” As they are offbeat and quirky and humorous, they appeal to me. In one of those books is something called the Total Perspective Vortex. It is used as an execution device. The following are some descriptions of it. It is the most savage psychotic torture a sentient being can undergo. You can kill a man, destroy his body, break his spirit, but only the Total Perspective Vortex can annihilate a man’s soul! The treatment lasts seconds, but the effects last the rest of your life! As a sentenced man walks to his execution by means of the Vortex, they play recordings of the screams of the last victim, as a way to get the next victim ready. The scream is described as someone having their soul burned from their body.
What the vortex is, is this – a person is hooked up to one end of it, and the whole of reality is plugged into the other end. And when you are put into the Vortex you are given just one momentary glimpse of the entire unimaginable infinity of creation, and somewhere in it a tiny little marker, a microscopic dot on a microscopic dot, which says “You are here.” When the machine is turned on, one sees in one instant the whole infinity of creation and one’s self in relation to it. The shock completely annihilates the brain. But one thing the inventor of this machine discovered, if life is going to exist in a Universe of this size, then the one thing it cannot afford to have is a sense of proportion.
In Psalm 8, the psalmist does not have a Total Perspective Vortex, but in his own way, he is contemplating the enormous vastness of the skies and universe (as his limited knowledge understands them), and the majesty of the God who has put all this in place. The psalmist is also contemplating his part, his role in the enormity of what he sees, and he is overwhelmed and humbled. Psalm 8:3-4. “When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” The psalmist has the view of the Vortex, that he is simply an insignificant speck in the vastness of all the created realm. But instead of being destroyed by this perspective, he is confused and perplexed – because the God who created all of this seems to be paying particular attention to this insignificant speck of a man, seemingly insignificant in the vastness of God’s creation.
Not only is God paying attention to this otherwise insignificant speck of a man, but it seems that he is elevating the man to a position of authority. In verse 5, man is crowned with glory and honor. Also in verse 5, man is elevated to be slightly lower than gods. (Versions differ on how to translate the Hebrew word here. The Hebrew here is “elohim” which is the plural term for gods and is often translated as the one divine God that we worship.) In verse 6, man is the ruler of the things of the earth, and all has been put under his feet. Ruler. Think of a king. Better yet, think of a vice-regent, who is subordinate to God himself as the ultimate King, but who positions his created men as not only his image bearers (see Genesis 1:26), but as vice-regents subject only to his authority. Think of Joseph and how he was second in charge of all of Egypt, subject only to Pharoah himself. That's how man is in relation to the earth and to God.
What the psalmist is coming to realize is that despite our insignificance, in perspective to the whole of the created order, God, who has created all of the created order, has put men here on earth to rule this earth for him. The psalmist is flabbergasted, confused and perplexed. He is filled with an overwhelming sense of awe of the task before him. But most of all, he is humbled and again awed at the God who has elevated the psalmist to this position. Such that the psalm begins and ends with the same phrase – O Lord, our Ruler*, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
*I use “Ruler” here instead of the traditional “Lord” to keep from repetition, because the two words here are not the same and thus are not repeated words. Additionally, one of the alternative definitions of “Adonai,” which is the term here, is “ruler.” “Master” or “owner” are other alternatives. “Sovereign” is used a lot in Ezekiel for this term.
-Mike Hendricks