Last week at work I was listening to the audiobook Life After Death: The Burden of Proof by Deepak Chopra. It's an amazing book which I'd highly recommend to those interested in spirituality, existence, and ultimately what happens to us when we die.
There is a part in the book that discusses how human beings are made of stardust. This part immediately resonated with me. It helped me to see a bigger picture in my current situation and I felt such immediate relief when I heard it. (I was currently in a funk where my fears of what awaits us after we die/what the purpose of life is/existing for eternity etc was causing immense anxiety. So much so that I was having panic attacks at the thought of it and I was on edge during everyday things.)
What Deepak explained is that stars are made up of mainly hydrogen and helium, but also contain small amounts of nitrogen, oxygen, iron and carbon. When there is too strong of a gravitational force within a star or if it becomes too full of matter it can burst (known as a supernova) and they expel all of these atoms into space. When the Big Bang happened, all these particles spread out and created our universe. And since our bodies are made up of carbon, iron, nitrogen, calcium, etc. we are in turn, made up of stars.
On Instagram a couple days ago I found a few amazing accounts with different spiritual quotes and all around positive vibes. I saved a bunch of pictures from it, one (posted on the side) a quote about being made up of stars.
So last night I went with my dad and his girlfriend to watch her son Mac's choir concert. We have become good friends and it was nice watching his performance. They were about to perform a song called "We Are Stars" and called upon the composer to give a brief introduction to it. He began by warning us that it was going to be science-y and potentially boring. I turned to my dad and said "he's going to tell us that we are all made out of stardust." My dad said ok and then we both continued listening.
He began explaining the same thing as my book - how particles that are in stars are also in our bodies, and when stars explode the particles and dust eventually fall to earth. Then he quoted Carl Sagan:
"The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies, were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of star stuff.
The composers closing line was that he wrote this song based on the knowledge that we are made from stars. My dad turned to me half laughing and half surprised and asked "how did you know that?!" I laughed and told him how Deepak had just taught me it this past week.
It was one of those beautiful synchronicities where all of the stars aligned (pardon the pun) and what I truly needed to hear was being placed in front of me again and again. Whether you agree with this standpoint or not (I'll leave that in your court) - what an amazing, miraculous and grounding thought, that we are all actually made of stars.
There is a part in the book that discusses how human beings are made of stardust. This part immediately resonated with me. It helped me to see a bigger picture in my current situation and I felt such immediate relief when I heard it. (I was currently in a funk where my fears of what awaits us after we die/what the purpose of life is/existing for eternity etc was causing immense anxiety. So much so that I was having panic attacks at the thought of it and I was on edge during everyday things.)
What Deepak explained is that stars are made up of mainly hydrogen and helium, but also contain small amounts of nitrogen, oxygen, iron and carbon. When there is too strong of a gravitational force within a star or if it becomes too full of matter it can burst (known as a supernova) and they expel all of these atoms into space. When the Big Bang happened, all these particles spread out and created our universe. And since our bodies are made up of carbon, iron, nitrogen, calcium, etc. we are in turn, made up of stars.
On Instagram a couple days ago I found a few amazing accounts with different spiritual quotes and all around positive vibes. I saved a bunch of pictures from it, one (posted on the side) a quote about being made up of stars.
So last night I went with my dad and his girlfriend to watch her son Mac's choir concert. We have become good friends and it was nice watching his performance. They were about to perform a song called "We Are Stars" and called upon the composer to give a brief introduction to it. He began by warning us that it was going to be science-y and potentially boring. I turned to my dad and said "he's going to tell us that we are all made out of stardust." My dad said ok and then we both continued listening.
He began explaining the same thing as my book - how particles that are in stars are also in our bodies, and when stars explode the particles and dust eventually fall to earth. Then he quoted Carl Sagan:
"The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies, were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of star stuff.
The composers closing line was that he wrote this song based on the knowledge that we are made from stars. My dad turned to me half laughing and half surprised and asked "how did you know that?!" I laughed and told him how Deepak had just taught me it this past week.
It was one of those beautiful synchronicities where all of the stars aligned (pardon the pun) and what I truly needed to hear was being placed in front of me again and again. Whether you agree with this standpoint or not (I'll leave that in your court) - what an amazing, miraculous and grounding thought, that we are all actually made of stars.