We are not anonymous atoms in the fabric of an unconscious universe. We have friends, family, and experience life in a unique way. We have the ability to channel our uniqueness into creative acts which introduce completely new combinations into the world. A black hole, a star, can't produce the Mona Lisa, and no one other than Divinci could. It was an outgrowth of his individuality.
This idea that we are passive beings, like atoms, completely disregards our ability to create. We tower above the unconscious elements of the universe. We are creators! Putting us on the uncreative level of atoms is slander against humanity.
But you do make a fascinating argument. It's an interesting philosophical point to be sure.
EDIT: Perhaps there is at least potential for resolution if we give up the classical definition of atoms (being the smallest indivisible parts) in favor of that of modern physics, in which not all atoms are created equal. But that opens up a whole other can of worms.
As a function of survival, we need some model of reality that helps us to continue living. And that means a model to help us justify suffering--essentially. I do not find such a model reflected by the poem in question; hence, I see it as an enemy to life--nihilistic.
You can resolve your confusion if you consider that the universe itself is conscious in some form. And those atoms have some form of consciousness.
There is no scientific, objective, measurable, external evidence for this, so don’t bother looking to prove or disprove it. You have to find it yourself.
I still hold that our ability to create far outranks anything in the observable universe. We are actually so freakishly different from everything around us, that we might as well be aliens to this universe.
That's why I don't like being put on the level of atoms. And I already feel atomized enough in this increasingly antisocial environment.
Does that include the creation of stars, galaxies, and planets? Literally everything we observe has been “created” in some way.
I guess I'm just trying to justify my existence in this bewildering cosmos.
Wow, that's nearly the exact opposite of the way my brain interprets it — that he's seeing an infinitely rich tapestry, the wonder of emergent properties and consciousness throughout the universe, from the smallest scales to the grandest, and we, self-referentially seeing ourselves as a part of that grandeur.
Not that we're anonymous atoms in an unconscious universe, but that we're part of a universal consciousness, possibly the most key part, as we are the particular (perhaps particularly privileged) atoms that are now "standing… atoms with consciousness… matter with curiosity".
Seems it really is in the eye of the beholder, and often more of a reflection of our own state of mind than of the artist's intent.