OSLIST Digest - 17 Jun 2004 to 18 Jun 2004 (#2004-164)

[Chris Corrigan]

Ashley Cooper wrote:

>ralph (or others),
>
>what's your favorite earth/cosmos story?
>
>ashley
>
>
>

One of my faves at the moment is the fact that all elements that are not
Hydrogen or Helium were produced by nuclear fission in stars.  The early
universe had only those two primary elements once things settled down.
By fusing together nuclei, stars produce all of the heavier elements,
including oxygen, carbon, silicon and calcium.  The heavier elements are
released into space when stars explode at the end of their lives.  And
so, through this wonderful self-organizing process, we are made up of
both Hydrogen and many of the other elements...both traces of the
original material of the universe and, literally, star dust.

In the Ojibway creation story humans are said to be unique because we
contain both spirit and matter in equal proportion.  I don't know what
the ratio nof Hydrogen to all the other elements is in our body, but if
you think of the original material as Spirit and the rest as matter, you
have the Creation story told through a scientific lens.

So I like the idea that we are made from stuff processed in the heart of
stars.  And I like the way we have assembled ourselves using those
resources.  That's my favourite story right now.

Chris




--
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Bowen Island, BC, Canada
(604) 947-9236

Consultation - Facilitation
Open Space Technology

Weblog: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot
Homepage: http://www.chriscorrigan.com
chris at chriscorrigan.com

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist