“We are stardust, we are golden, we are 40 billion year old carbon”
Joni Mitchell
“Gather out of star-dust- Earth-dust – Cloud-dust – Storm-dust – And splinter of hail – One handful of dream-dust – Not for Sale”
Langston Hughes
At a conference this summer in northern New Mexico called “Earth Honoring Faith”, I finally grasped the knowledge that I am made of stardust. This conference, the last in a series on Eco-spirituality, theology and ethics had the theme, “The Journey of the Universe”. It was based around a film developed by Brian Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker and is available through the Yale University Press (I recommend it highly, by the way). The film and the book by the same name tell the story of the origins of the universe, the origins of the earth and humans, and shows how humans are just one expression of the our miraculous cosmos. In the film, narrator Brian Swimme notes that we really are stardust. Everything, every atom in our bodies and all the elements that make up the cosmos originate in exploding stars. After a bit of separate research on this I decided that he is speaking from a general scientific consensus. Though scientists seem to have known this for many years, a flurry of studies and articles stating exactly that have come out recently. National Geographic Book Talk recently reviewed a book called Living with the Stars, How the Human Body is Connected to the Life Cycles of the Earth, the Planets and the Stars, by husband and wife team Karel and Iris Schrijver (Astrophysicist and Physician respectively) who make this very point. The interviewer asked Iris, “So Joni Mitchell was right?” and Iris answered, “Was she ever”. “All the materials in our bodies originate in the residual stardust from stars and massive explosions in the galaxy.” From what little I understand of this process, it seems that all the elements that make up our earth, our bodies and the bodies of all creatures originate in the explosions in suns, usually from hydrogen being converted to other elements. This material moves out from the stars as they die and sometimes from explosions of stars. The stardust (all these particles) floats out into the universe until attracted to bodies such as planets. It is always falling on Earth, and some of the elements that make up my body may have landed on Earth as recently as the last hundred years.
So I am stardust, and so are you. So is the raven flying high over my home in Colorado. So is the ocean and everything in it. For some reason this knowledge (probably not news to most of you reading this) finally helped me break through to the idea that I am connected to all life and all parts of the Earth, and though it is harder for me to conceive, to all the Cosmos. I truly am one with all things and all creation.
Why is this so significant for me? It finally allows me to let go of the old Western idea that humans are separate and different than other parts of the Earth. God did not create us separately and we are not going somewhere special after death. We are not superior or unique among other life forms and the Earth was not created for us. Rather, we are part of the Earth, part of the eco-system of this planet: interconnected, dependent, intertwined, inseparable. Whoever God is, God is not like us, but if anything, is like the Cosmos. I remember the old joke: God created us in God’s image, and so we returned the favor”. I am not a Biblical scholar, but I do know that the idea of the authors of the book of Genesis that humans are made in the image of God is a lot more complicated than saying that we look like God, or that God has a human like body. Humans are part and particle of the Cosmos. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “I am part and particle of God”, and he was right.
With this understanding of the Cosmos and of my self identity I have finally begun to move beyond the dualistic, anthropocentric thought I was raised and educated with. It’s a relief and a revelation, but now I have to rethink everything.
Very Interesting 🙂 🙂
Wow. While I am a bit familiar with this basic concept, your word challenges me to do further exploration. I am aware that the vastness of the universe and of its author and sustainer are immeasurably beyond our ability to grasp them, hence our tendency to simplify them and reduce them to a level with which we are comfortable, a level that makes them about us, that puts us at the center. Your piece brings to mind J.B. Phillips’ theme that goes back to the year I was born and that might be a theme for any attempt at systematic theology: “Your God is too small.” Thank you for sharing, my friend.
Well stated, Peter. At my church we’ve been exploring these insights for a while. A really helpful series we’ve used is “Painting the Stars”. I recommend it. It challenges our traditional Western ideas about God and opens some fascinating possibilities. Thanks!
Beautifully written. I am borrowing a bit for my sermon tomorrow. Thank you for making the point better than I could.
I love this post! Of course, that’s coming from someone who knew every word to every Joni Mitchell song in my youth, so I guess I would be partial to a post with a Joni reference. LOL But I also love learning the science behind how we really are stardust, and love how the science and poetry reinforce each other.
I haven’t done independent research & I’m still working through this. I understand the concept that everything shares something with everything else – that the extinction of a South American lizard has an impact on the rest of the world.
It seems as though this explodes evolution. I’m uncertain what the exact impact is on evolution, but my intuition tells me there is an influence. I need to think some more.