“We are star stuff” ~ Carl Sagan
Apart from (and often because of) Moby’s 2003 techno hit, I know a lot of people who love this concept. It’s a very easy concept to love.
“We are all made of stars.”
To think that we, living our lives now as we eat crisps and browse the internet, are the very stars that mankind once worshipped is a deliriously romantic notion. It carries the connotation that each and every one of us is special for some vague reason that just happens to be so uplifting and mystical that it transcends the obvious problems inherent when combining “every” with “special.”
It’s also a great example of how science can discover things so astonishing they can appear to reinforce spirituality. However, whilst many people love this quote so much that they have t-shirts and tattoos and sometimes go as far as to list it on facebook, they’re usually taking an overly narrow view of the concept that misses out on the truly revealing part of the whole star-born spectacle.
We’re not the first to be “made of stars.” The elements we’re speaking about, the carbon, nitrogen and other heavy elements sent forth through the galaxy from exploding super nova, have been a part of the Earth since its inception, during which time they’ve formed everything from mammoths to amoeba. When a rabbit eats a plant and uses it to build and repair its own body, in some literal sense the plant becomes a part of the rabbit. Then the rabbit get’s eaten by a fox and they both become part of the fox and perhaps the fox defecates or dies and fertilises the soil from which more plants grow. It’s like a scientifically verifiable form of reincarnation that resonates with and justifies our sense that all life is profoundly connected.
Special and magical and star-born and interconnected are we to be made of the same once-celestial elements that have been shared through a thousand cycles of birth, death and defecation.
To just say we’re all made of stars is to ignore a large part of reality in order to project a certain light on ourselves. It requires cherry-picking our favourite images so we can imagine we somehow share their qualities of bringing warmth and light to the world. But we’re not just made of stars; we’re also the latest step in a grand journey through life, death and digestive systems. Not just vast, space-set chemical reactions but living plants, animals and all the corpses and faecal matter in between.
So yes, with a certain, self-congratulatory sense of marvel we can honestly say that “we are all made of stars,” but I think it’s equally pertinent to remember that we’re also full of shit.
“Human beings have a demonstrated talent for self-deception when their emotions are stirred.” ~ Carl Sagan.