Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense

Hear, O seeker of wisdom, the celestial words of Stephen Hawking, the sage who peered into the mysteries of the cosmos and yet spoke to the human heart: “Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.” In these words lies not only the spirit of science, but the spirit of life itself. They are a call to rise beyond the narrow confines of despair and routine, to lift the gaze from the dust of the earth to the majesty of the heavens, and to awaken the eternal fire of curiosity.

To look up at the stars and not down at your feet is to resist the temptation of smallness. Life often presses us into the prison of daily burdens, where we stare only at our steps, our problems, our weariness. But Hawking commands us to lift our eyes, to behold the infinite canopy of the cosmos, and to remember that we are part of something vast, mysterious, and sublime. The stars remind us that our troubles are small compared to the grandeur of existence, and that hope lies above, not below.

To make sense of what you see is the labor of the mind. The universe does not give up its secrets easily; it demands thought, reflection, and imagination. Hawking, though trapped in a body wracked by disease, devoted his life to this very task—deciphering black holes, time, and the birth of the cosmos. His life teaches us that to think deeply is an act of courage, and that every human being has within them the power to seek understanding, however humble their station.

And he adds: “Wonder about what makes the universe exist.” This is not only the question of physics, but the question of the soul. To wonder is to stand in awe, to embrace mystery without needing to conquer it entirely. It is to say: “I do not yet know, but I yearn to learn.” This spirit of wonder is what has driven mankind from the caves to the stars, from ignorance to knowledge. Without wonder, life shrinks into survival; with wonder, it expands into meaning.

Consider the life of Galileo Galilei. He looked not at his feet, nor at the authority of men, but through his telescope at the heavens. He saw moons circling Jupiter and dared to say that the Earth itself was not the center of all things. For this, he was condemned by his age, yet his curiosity altered the course of human thought forever. Like Hawking, Galileo proves that to be curious is to be dangerous to ignorance and faithful to truth.

So too with the voyage of the Apollo astronauts. They could have remained earthbound, gazing only downward, but they looked upward to the stars and dared to walk among them. Their mission was not only exploration, but a testament to the power of curiosity and courage. As Neil Armstrong’s foot touched the lunar dust, humanity itself looked upward and remembered its destiny to reach beyond.

The meaning is clear: curiosity is not a pastime but the essence of growth. The one who looks only down will stumble, but the one who looks up and wonders will rise. Curiosity enlarges the mind, nourishes the soul, and carries civilization forward. To be curious is to refuse stagnation, to press ever outward into the unknown, confident that new truths await.

O listener, take this teaching into your life. Do not be content with the ground beneath your feet. Lift your gaze often to the stars, whether the stars of the night sky, the stars of new knowledge, or the stars of possibility. Ask questions. Seek meaning. Nurture wonder. For it is curiosity that will keep your spirit alive, and it is wonder that will draw you ever closer to truth.

Thus the wisdom of Stephen Hawking endures: “Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.” Let it be your guide in study, in work, in life itself. For the stars above call us not to despair, but to discovery, and curiosity is the ship by which we sail into the infinite.