Extract from a book I borrowed - this chapter really caught my eye:
"Our body is our home. We have no other place to love for our time on Earth. We have no other means of experiencing the touch, taste, smell, sound and sight of the universe, we have no other house for our spirit, we have no other way of moving through space, we have no other place from which to express our love..
A living star
Consider, first, how porous our physical boundaries really are. We are not sealed sacs of physical being. We are exchanging materials with the universe constantly. Air moves into our lungs, we transform gases in it, linking the oxygen to our red blood cells as we inhale, exhaling waste carbon dioxide. We are exchanging gases with the universe every single minute of our lives. We are taking in foods and liquids, growing and repairing bone, muscle, marrow and releasing bodily wastes. We sweat. We slough off skin. At times we bleed. Substances are part of us, and then not part of us, in an endless cycle. We move through the world, and the world moves through us.
One astro-physicist has a wonderful way of making his subject real and exciting to children. He describes to them how stars implode, how their matter, the carbon and water that are the building blocks of life, are hurled through the universe, then condense again into this or that planet, this or that moon, on which life forms can begin. 'So you', he tells the children, 'are actually made of stardust. You are a living star.'
His story reminds me of this quotation:
Is not the whole universe you?
Where is there anyone that is not you?
You are the sun, the moon and the stars
And you are shining everywhere
--Vivekananda, Jnana Yoga"
(extracted from Becoming Yourself, by Paddy O'Brien)
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How amazingly beautiful is that.