Everywhere on social media and news platforms were images from the James Webb telescope magnifying in glorious detail sections of the universe billions of light years away. The universe has enlightened us all and reminded us of our humble place in it once again. In the midst of all this chaos, and enormous gas clouds is a tiny planet where our particular kind of life evolved capable of acquiring these images.
If, along with these images, and the equally glorious full moon, one has not caught a whiff of shoshin, I urge you all to do so. I also have the resident astronomer of the house on summer vacation, so I am constantly being given statistics along with the images.
It is fortune indeed to, purely by chance, be immersed in starlight myself even in the reading world.
The beautiful images in the children’s book: The Stuff of Stars – Illustrated by Ekua Holmes, Written by : Marion Dane Bauer
The Stuff of Stars by Marion Dane Bauer Illustrated by Ekua Holmes
I just finished reading Bewilderment by Richard Powers last week. Bewilderment: the book and the feeling
I am now reading Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.
After a walk under the stars, our corner of the universe seems sanguine – the countryside of the cosmic arena. In our suburban areas, not too many stars are visible, and the gas clouds in the James Webb photographs seem surreal. The universe is a happening place – stars and galaxies being born every day, yet the rise of our faithful moon glowing rose-gold in the early evening makes for a satisfying adventure enough in the cosmos.
“The laws that govern the light from a firefly in my backyard as I write these words tonight also govern the light emitted from an exploding star one billion light-years away. Place changes nothing. Nor does time. One set of fixed rules runs the game, in all times and places. That’s as big a truth as we Earthlings have discovered, or ever will, in our brief run.”
Richard Powers, Bewilderment
With images such as these, we are perhaps closer than ever to finding another planet that is capable of harboring earth-like lifeforms.
But till then, Carl Sagan’s words hold true:
Nourish-n-Cherish 