Monday, February 26, 2007

Dust in the (Stellar) Wind


Sometimes I think we all get too carried away with ourselves. I know I do! Pema Chödrön calls this "ego-clinging." The concept is that, try as we may to think thoughts of metta and the well-being of others, most of us spend the majority of our waking moments acting as if "it's all about me."

In any case, I was doing a little web-surfing tonight and found some wonderful photographs of nebulae at space.com. Nebulae (plural of nebula), in case you don't know (I didn't!) are interstellar clouds of gas, dust and plasma.

"Nebulae are the birthplace of stars. They are formed when very diffuse molecular clouds begin to collapse under their own gravity, often due to the influence of a nearby supernova explosion. The cloud collapses and fragments, sometimes forming hundreds of new stars. The newly-formed stars ionize the surrounding gas to produce an emission nebula. The nebula's gravity pulls the cloud inward and it starts to spin in the middle eventually gaining enough friction to be hot enough for nuclear fusion to occur.

Other nebulae are formed by the death of stars; a star that undergoes the transition to a white dwarf blows off its outer layer to form a planetary nebula. Novae and supernovae can also create nebulae known as nova remnants and supernova remnants, respectively."

(From Wikipedia)

It reminded me of the line in that song by Kansas, "Dust in the Wind," that reminds us:

I close my eyes
Only for a moment and the moment's gone
All my dreams
Pass before my eyes, a curiosity...

Same old song
Just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do
Crumbles to the ground
Though we refuse to see...

Now don't hang on
Nothin' lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away
And all your money won't another minute buy...

So, just remember...

All we are is dust in the (stellar) wind.

Namaste.


No comments: