I’m obsessed with the stars.
Last night, I took the dog out and caught myself gazing upwards at the glimmering pin-holes of light in the sky’s dark canopy.
I once heard a beautiful story about the stars creating us so that they could see themselves through our eyes. And, the idea of the stars creating us holds some truth, as we are literally made of star dust (all elements except for hydrogen are created in stars) and we survive off of their light and thermal energies.
Moreover, I enjoy feeling my continuing, living connection with these distant orbs. Did you know that the gravity of every star in the universe is affecting your body to some infinitesimally small degree? The closer the star, the strong the effect. The sun’s gravitational force on the Earth, for example, is approximately 177 times greater than that of the moon’s. As the Earth dances about the galaxy, the estimated 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars pull on our physical bodies in innumerable directions.
It just reminds me of how connected we all are – not just to each other – but to this massive and beautiful universe in which we often get caught up in our own importance.
October 26, 2009 at 4:31 pm
With all the ‘pulling’, how come we aren’t TALLER?
October 26, 2009 at 4:32 pm
I love you Davey Wavey.
October 26, 2009 at 4:55 pm
i agree with this whole post because it makes sense to me. i just wonder about those who believe in creationism instead, and how they might take this post.
October 26, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Lol. When I was younger, I used to enjoy lying across the back seat of the car, staring up at the awesome night sky when my parents would drive long distance, through country side areas. The stars look so much more dazzling without the urban pollution. Thanks for bringing back the memories Davey!
October 26, 2009 at 7:13 pm
The last two posts seem linked in some way. The last one about “pleasing” is about wanting to please others and basing our self-image on that. This one is about connectedness.
Perhaps it’s that in our connections with others that we find our own beauty and the beauty of others.
October 26, 2009 at 7:56 pm
beautiful. its like the dreamtime!
October 26, 2009 at 9:10 pm
I’ve also recently been “Star-struck” for some reason…the stars really are fascinating to gaze at, in the pitch black sky!
October 26, 2009 at 9:24 pm
“It just reminds me of how connected we all are – not just to each other – but to this massive and beautiful universe in which we often get caught up in our own importance.”
Especially if you start thinking about dark matter.
October 26, 2009 at 11:03 pm
And yet another great post! On the funny side, it reminds me of my time at Space Camp. I’m a self-proclaimed “dork,” and I won an essay contest to go for free. It’s funny how much information from that week I’ve managed to retain.
On a more serious note: the connection that you’re experiencing is humanist philosophy called “Ubuntu.” It focuses on people’s allegiances and relations with one another. It’s also seen as one of the founding principles of the new republic of South Africa.
It’s some pretty cool stuff. I have my year of service with City Year to thank.
October 27, 2009 at 4:26 am
Ahhhh gazing at the stars tells me there must be a star designer. Love you Davey … Bunches!
October 27, 2009 at 6:45 am
That’s one thing I love about my home … the wonder of actually seeing the stars at night
For some reason, seeing all those eyes watching from above gives me the feeling that everything is right with my corner of the world.
Great post Davey <3
October 27, 2009 at 9:07 am
I remember once building a fieldstone chimney and holding a sedimentary rock in my hands that I was about to cement into the growing column “I” was building.
The rock was once sand on some forgotten shore millions of years ago, compressed into hard stone by natural forces, raised up by techtonic movements, broken up by erosion and left in a field not far from where I was working to cement it into a wall. It might stand for a few hundred years more, before it falls and gets ground up once again, to become sand on some future shore.
So who was “I” in the whole process? Just one more speck of stardust, interBeing with the rest of the Universe.
We are all truly One.
Be well,
October 27, 2009 at 10:49 am
When I look at the night sky I think of all the other “I”s in the universe, on different worlds. Do they have art? Could we be friends with them? Lovers?…
October 27, 2009 at 1:11 pm
David,
If you’re so obsessed with stars etc… here is the link to one of my favorite websites :
http://www.astrobio.net/
bye,
October 27, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Love it, stars are cool, as is the moon
October 27, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Stars. Distant bodies. Yeah. Run into those airheads all the time on Wilshire Blvd, literally. Don’t see many in the sky because of overCAST.
October 28, 2009 at 1:39 am
Have you ever realized that when you look at the stars you are witnessing a piece of history? That twinkle we see now was a twinkle thousands of lightyears ago. Whether it is hundrends or thousands of years old, its beauty truly is timeless.
Cheers!
October 28, 2009 at 5:25 pm
oh how I love to gaze up to the stars!
October 28, 2009 at 6:52 pm
I agree with you about the stars, and I love looking at them. For me it has a different meaning. I was raised extremely religious and as i’ve learned, evolved, changed, over my 37 years, I’ve become atheist. I believe when you die, that’s it. Even though this is what I believe it’s hard for me to accept, because I want to live forever haha. At any rate, I take a lot of comfort that eventually our sun will destroy the planet, the dust i’ve become and i’ll be recycled into the universe like every other living thing ever has and i’ll always survive in some part, some where. It may sound hoakey or stupid, but it gives me comfort and makes me feel immortal, and I think of that when I look at the stars.
November 1, 2009 at 3:53 am
Hey Davey,
I know I’m responding this blog on Halloween night but when I was reading this article I just got chills because at the same date you posted the blog and previously for a period of time before that date. I had been going out to look up at the stars on a nightly basis with the same type of thoughts going through my mind. I wonder in your personal opinion if to you it would also be an epiphany of human consiousness’ trends or if this is something less global/universal. I know I don’t aticulate myself as well in words as you are able to, but it just seemed to profoundly exact.
Anyway,
Kenneth R. Livingston
June 15, 2010 at 1:42 am
I believe in creation, and I still like this post.