stardust localizing

A perspective, informed by the work of Michael Dowd, Brian Swimme, and Thomas Berry on The Great Story, is that every atom in our body and every atom around us (except hydrogen) were forged in the fiery bellies of stars that exploded as supernovas billions of years ago. ^[i],[ii] Amazingly, about 4.5 billion years ago, the dust and gas left over from the formation of the Sun coalesced to form Earth and the other planets in the solar system. Initially molten, Earth’s outer layer cooled to form a solid crust when water began accumulating in the atmosphere. About 3.5 billion years ago, the biosphere began evolving from single cell organisms such that Earth now has millions of species. Evidence suggests that modern humans originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago. Just as the eye is stardust evolving to see and ears are stardust evolved to hear, we are stardust evolved to the point of becoming aware itself and of evolution itself. We are evolution becoming aware. With this perspective, as Tom Atlee reminds us, our charge becomes being an active participant in the conscious evolution of life on the planet and that means building the institutions that act as a bridge from where we are now to a more sustainable future. The premise of this blog is that localization is a key organizing principle of the conscious evolution of our economy and culture. Essentially, we need to become stardust localizing!

[i] Thank God for Evolution!: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World, Michael Dowd, Council Oak Books, November 2007. www.thankgodforevolution.com.

[ii] The Universe Story : From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era–A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos, Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry, HarperOne, 1994.