Stars. Ever find yourself on a clear night, on the ocean, or in the mountains or desert, some place where the sky is dark and clear and you can really see the stars? Remember the feeling you had then.
We read that there are billions of stars in the galaxy, but it is hard to imagine, to really grasp. There is a new photo montage showing 1 billion stars in the Milky Way [ http://djer.roe.ac.uk/vsa/vvv/iipmooviewer-2.0-beta/vvvgps5.html ]. While still less than %1 of the actual total this image is so full of stars that you can zoom in 10 times and the view is still packed with stars. It is an amazingly beautiful image. All those stars shining.
Stars are the fundamental physical source of life in our universe. Protons and electrons spinning together through space and time, generating all the energy, all the fields, all the matter than makes up the planets, and the web of life that sustains us.
While our star, the Sun, is the source for the energy that sustains life on planet Earth, most of the atoms that make up Earth and you and I come from other stars. These stars lived, and generated the energies of life, all while cooking the complex atoms which life also needs. Some of these flew into space on solar winds, but most were only released when these stars died, in the spectacular explosions of nova and super nova.
So in meditation, I wonder: how many stars cooked the atoms that make up my physical body? How much of the galaxy contributed to the making of our Sun, the Earth and you and I? Some of them have passed on, some may still be shining, as stars live for a very long time.
It is something to marvel at, how many stars have contributed to your life, over time spans that we cannot imagine. Feel into your body and ask it to remember. Feel into the eons of preparation, of cosmic forging that has gone into the making of this temple of your spirit. Feel the power of all those stars connected to you now, supporting you now, to be here on Earth looking back out at the stars that gave you birth. Open your knowing into this vast web of life woven through and across time and space to create and hold your being here, now. The vast web that holds and supports your spirit.
As beautiful as stars are, it is no more than the beauty of your souls. Sure we all have our human share of shadow, but your soul is always shining through. It is my privilege and joy to have seen you as the amazing shining soul and energetic being that you are. Like the stars you are all unique and different, having your own colors and melodies. Like the stars you are generators of life force in this world, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Within you the dualities of the universe, create and sustain life and radiate it out.
So I invite you to consider the stars, and consider yourself. You are no less than they and no less beautiful, powerful and magically mysterious. Know this about yourself. Feel this in yourself and know that no matter what is happening on the outside you are such a source of beauty and life on the inside.
In great gratitude for all the stars, in the heavens and on the earth, and for sharing some of your beauty and glory with me over the years.
(© 4/2012)
