Make a vow of vastness

Dear friends,

paraphasing Alessandro Bergonzoni, the time has come to take seriously his invitation to "make a vow of vastness“. 

Our forefathers began to have the awareness of existing when they raised their eyes to contemplate the stars.

Today, more than ever, we need to look up to have a broader vision and to open ourselves to a new awareness.

The astronomer Carl Sagan explained in his book "" Cosmic Contact "" that human beings are made of an extraordinary matter: stardust. 

More recent scientific research tells us that that "dust" comes from distant stars, very far away, even outside our galaxy. The theory is due to a group of astrophysicists who have managed to trace the origin of the atoms of which the Milky Way is made. Including our Sun, the planets and also us, the tenants of this grain of matter, who now become even more aware of being "citizens of the Universe". 

The stars are within us: "The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood and the carbon in our apple pie," said Sagan. As well as the screen on which you are reading these lines. The billions of billions of atoms that compose them are intergalactic matter that has traveled hundreds of thousands of light years and finally reunited, compressed by its own gravity. In every cell of our heart or in every calcium particle of our bones, a cosmic story is imprinted. 

So let's use the discovery of this fascinating truth to bring the macrocosm of the firmament into the microcosm of our body. In this suspended period of time in which the word that recurs most often is "closure", we open our hearts to "vastness" !!! 

Let's take a moment to pause. 

If we are outside the inhabited centers and the night is clear, we look up to see the stars again. If we do not have this possibility, we close our eyes and imagine a starry sky. We breathe deeply all the beauty of the firmament and bring the light of the myriads of stars into our cells. We visualize our body all illuminated, formed by many dots of light and we enjoy for a few moments this wonder that makes us feel united with everything.

We are children of the light, we are stars that shine. We are made to enlighten each other. 

The word "desire" comes from the Latin "de-sidera" where "de" is privative, that is, "lack of stars". Evidently at the basis of our deep desires is the ancestral longing for our origins. A starless night generates nostalgia for the infinite, that tension towards a "beyond" that moves the drive towards human and spiritual research.

An ancient Serbian proverb says: "Be humble because you are made of earth, be noble because you are made of stars"

Read also the online monthly Positive Revolution. In each issue we host prestigious signatures. On the Editorial Board: the scientist Edoardo Boncinelli, the economist Enrico Giovannini and the physicist Roberto Cingolani.

If you haven't received it yet, write me: gianni.ferrario@gianniferrario.com

A warm greeting,

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