Last month, I observed a total solar eclipse for the first time. It was an experience that can only be described as spiritual for me.
We live in a culture that has long characterized God as a large, human-like being who exists somewhere on high. However, if there is anything like God in the real world, it is the sun.
Almost everything we do depends on the sun. From a tiny fertilized egg to adulthood, all the energy used in the complex structures of our bodies comes from the sun. The energy we use to move our bodies, the energy we use to digest our food, the energy that goes into each heartbeat is all from the sun. The warmth of the day and the warmth of our bodies is the sun.
How reliable is it that our Sun has been burning for about 5 billion years, providing enough time for our planet’s amazing chemistry to evolve? There is enough time for the incredible genetic plan within each of us to evolve. It is a plan to channel matter and solar energy through the complex structures of our bodies, from a tiny fertilized egg to adulthood.
Our sun is not responsible for that chemical reaction, but the previous sun was. All elements in our bodies except hydrogen were manufactured by the early Sun. As Joni Mitchell said in the song “Woodstock,” we are stardust.
The element iron and all elements lighter than iron were probably created by normal solar fusion, but elements heavier than iron required something hotter and more powerful. They required unimaginable energy, like a supernova.
One of those elements is uranium. Thanks to uranium, the Earth’s core is constantly heated. That heat causes plate tectonics. Therefore, this heat also comes from the solar nova, and in a sense, it can be said to be a type of solar heat.
On a superficial level, we can thank plate tectonics for giving Earth such incredibly diverse landscapes. On a deeper level, we can thank plate tectonics for bringing us here to witness such landscapes. I believe that the importance of plate tectonics as a dynamic force driving biological evolution is still not fully understood. Without it, Earth’s planetary evolution would have ceased a long time ago, and the evolution of living things would have stagnated along with it.
While there’s something a little silly about believing in a human-like god, I think it’s a very human response to the world. It is difficult to feel much warmth towards the abstract concepts with which we understand the evolution of planets and living things. It’s easier to feel warmth and even love when it comes to things with human faces.
But during the four minutes of the total solar eclipse, I felt something that primitive sun worshipers would have felt. An indescribable pure sensation that pierces through all abstraction.
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