Thursday, November 14, 2013

Starry Night: a bedtime story

In the beginning there was nothing.

Not a vacant expanse, not an empty paradigm, but a nothingness. To say it was void would give reality to space, but there was no space. There was no time, no dimension, no substance, no light, no life - no cruelty...no happiness.

And then instantly there was something.

A sudden flicker of brilliance ignited within the mind of God and a pinprick of Everything burst into existence. Within seconds the pinprick inflated into a realm of angry primordial chaos. Explosions of heat and radiation ripped against the nothingness and unfolded a blanket of time and space.  The raw universe was scathed as energy unleashed its colossal antics, birthing the forces of physical law and sparking being to the first elements. Genesis was macrocosmic surges erupting into infinity. Darkness crashed through the hysterics and coursed its way across the newly formed cosmos leaving behind a hot, ebony canvas.

As it cooled, gravity dipped her finger into the black abyss and swirled around pockets of scattered hydrogen creating gigantic, billowing rings. With each swirl the hydrogen rings coiled tighter and tighter, folding in on themselves, until they swirled into compressed orbs of pressure. One orb in particular began rising in heat until the temperature reached the ranks of astronomical. Gravity was initially a lackadaisical participant in the hydrogen ballet, but she became unrelenting. Swirling, then squishing. Compacting, then contracting. Smashing, Bashing, Crashing, Collapsing, Crushing!! and then...FLASH!


The orb of hydrogen was crushed until it erupted into a bursting flame of helium. Strokes of dazzling light shattered the darkness, a ring of heat and energy ripped across the velvet night. The orb of hydrogen pressure transformed into a floating sphere of fire, bleeding energy. Suddenly, another orb exploded into the darkness, and then another, and then another. 

And the stars' debuted.

The vacant expanse filled with smoldering diamonds; ovens cooking up the elements of creation. They thundered and roared as Gravity continued crushing their cores of helium...FLASH! Lithium filled the nucleus and pushed helium to the surface. The crushing continued crushing and FLASH! Beryllium. FLASH! Boron. FLASH! Magnesium. FLASH! Zirconium. The hot balls of fire became layered globes of elements growing hotter and hotter and bigger and bigger with every explosion. 

Until...

The stars began to implode and filled the universe with glittering stardust - Gravity's play dough. 

Miraculous creations unfolded:











You are made of the stars, my child. Stardust courses your veins - a reality signifying the divinity coursing the very essence of your being. The stars ignited and perished for this moment. A God lived and died to give your breath immortality and unimaginable significance. You stood with Them before the stars bled. You stood with Them before the nothingness was extinguished. 

You stood with Them before this beginning.

Forget not your origin, forget not your capacity. You are a child of God.

1 comment:

  1. Geez. Who knew that science could be so poetic and beautiful? And then to have such an unsuspecting ending. You've done it again Alyse. Again and again.

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