We Are Star Dust

Nothing sparks man's curiosity more than the question of his existence.  Plato once famously stated that a life unexamined is not worth living.

The statement could not be further from the truth, for when a human being once reaches a level of maturity his intellect grows and he begins to investigate his surroundings and eventually comes to an awareness of a need to answer the ultimate question; where did I come from?

Most psychologists would claim that this stage ties in with the inquisitive phase of a child’s development. A period in which some parents dread when they have to tactfully evade such questions as where do babies come from and why do people die.

History teaches us that our fascination with our origin dates back to the dawn of man. From a Christian perspective one could agree with the theory of creation as an avenue to our origin; ‘In the beginning was God’ offers an alternate astro-theological explanation for our existence and source of verities, or we can as well stand on the tenets of evolution with its theoretical inquisitions. None the less challenge the same with the statement that 'there is no first cause, just attributes of The Absolute' like Ken Wheeler.

But let us travel back in time, utilizing the theological perspective just before creation, where an infinite and eternal energy made the universe. Scientists tell us that the building blocks of life and the planets/stars in our universe are as a result of the condensation of particles. Now, when a star dies its ashes provide the necessary material for the formation of planets. Helium, carbon, natural gases and metals condense together through various processes spurred on by the immense gravitational pull of a nearby star, a sun, electric discharge etc. Thus, in retrospect the death of a star thus sets up the birth of more planets, systems, or galaxies, for as the star implodes it scatters its remains throughout the universe.

The bible (bi bull) tell us that on the sixth day God created man, precisely Adam molded from the earth’s soil. It would likewise be only logical to conclude that we are fashioned from star dust if we were to follow the scientific presuppositions forwarded above. Particles from the heavens condensed to form the earth, and on its completion, God gathers from it soil to create man.

With this realization in mind, we are no more alien than any other organism on this planet. We are not more than a speck on a rotating organic mass we call the earth, but a living testament to the awesomeness of Deus and space. Though some would also argue that we came as a result of an unknown cause. However, the spread of the very same building blocks of life found in different organisms prompts us to inquire for an intelligent design.

An intelligent designer who bogs us with an existential question since birth; Does death then mark the end of our physical being? If then again, we look to the heavens we realize the concept of transformation. My flesh dies and decomposes and all the materials that once constituted a man return to the soil to sustain new life just like the death of a star, while the infinite part of ' I ' moves on to a higher plane.

For in you lies all that makes up the universe, simple and divine.   

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.