It's Full of Stars

Of all movie scenes, perhaps the one that stands out to me as the most awe-inspiring of all the rest was during the epic film "2001: A Space Odyssey" when astronaut David Bowman confronted the monolith in orbit around Jupiter's moon. What has stuck with me as one of those unresolved memories of a lifetime was what he could only utter in amazement when he looked into the eternal blackness of the monolith: "My God, it's full of stars." Every time I look into the night sky from some remote desert canyon or through a break in the canopy of great leafy trees on a clear night I return to this quintessential awesome experience that goes back before I had any memory. As I stare, as David Bowman must have, into the infinity of stars, I cannot but feel small in my awareness of how amazing it all is, standing alone, together in the middle of this vast wonderful universe whose size we can never truly encapsulate in our meager awareness. I am left with only awe, wonder, and humility.

Then I look within my own body and am struck with the same awe. Taking an imaginary journey at the micro-cosmic level within, there are equally amazing vistas to be found within our bodies. We are colony beings with processes that hum along without the slightest bit of our attention all the time. Our bodies are harmonious colonies of bacteria, viruses, cells, and organs adapted over millions of years to process and convert energy to maintain a complex structure of nerves that for some amazing reason is self-aware; moving mysteriously through an awareness of time and space, knowing that it knows. The explorations of science have led us to understand that the extent within matches the multitude of universes without. The bodies we inhabit are literally every bit as expansive as the universe of stars above.

The further I go along on this earthly walk, the more deliberate I become to take in knowledge and information that goes beyond the petty details that I used to care about before. In part, I am guessing that my biology acknowledges that it no longer seeks replication through selfish duplication of my being. Perhaps I am growing more aware that I have little time left, especially for the vanities of fear, clarity, renoun, and power. The battle with time ultimately leads all of us to confront infinity on a more personal basis.

I seek more silence in the world now, and spend more and more hours watching nature, science, and mystical shows on television and the Internet. With the perspective I have earned over time, the politics and conflicts that seem to be given so much attention seem now to be such a waste of my time and energy. The light bathing our planet today is the same as that from the beginning and will still be the same long after all political feuds have been forgotten. I stand in the sunshine breathing deeply with full awareness and a smile, bathing myself in its eternal life force, grateful for the fresh air and good food I enjoy.

The wisdom I have picked up along the way tells me that we humans need to wake up to the co-creative struggle in our partnership with the earth. As creators of the world around us, we are directing the evolution of everything on this planet. It doesn't really matter who will win the next election. The only meaningful question is what am I doing to bring harmony to the world right now. What inheritance am I leaving those who will follow on this planet?

We must all look deeply to see that "it's full of stars". The overwhelming awareness that we all share in is full of wonderful stars. Everything was made in the stars. Everything was created within the vast compressions and explosions of the mighty forces of the stars. We must return to an understanding and responsibility of who we are and abandon this naive belief that we can do nothing to effect change, that we are powerless. We have within our reach the ability to use the gifts of the stars to power our world completely and to truly heal ourselves and our planet. Awaken. We are all starseeds and wunderkinds. Gaze into the darkness within and without and unlock the awesome gift of the stars.