NASA’s Messenger spacecraft began sending photos of the planet Mercury to Earth March 29. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, and from the surface of Mercury the sun appears to be two and a half times larger than it appears here on Earth.
Because the planet has very little atmosphere, the daytime temperature is around 800 degrees Fahrenheit, the nighttime temperature 300 degrees below zero. Mercury, with its pockmarked surface, lack of water and blistering and freezing temperatures appears to be lifeless.
From the surface of Mercury, according to NASA, one would discern two very bright stars. One would be its nearest neighbor, a cream-colored planet Venus. The other would be a beautiful Blue Marble, our home planet, Earth.
Except for the possibility of some very simple forms of life, such as bacteria in the oceans of Jupiter’s moon, Europa, or below the red dust of the Martian surface, our solar system seems to be empty of life except for the life on our planet. Earth bears life from the top of its highest mountains to the depth of its deepest oceans. It is a miraculous wonder of life all alone in the harshness of outer space. It is a precious gift, and as we become mindful of the gift, we stand in humble awe of her.
Out of the evolution of the universe with its myriad of stars and galaxies, of solar systems and planets, there is one planet that is alive. There may be millions or billions of other such planets out there like our Earth, but because of the universe's vastness, we find our selves alone. As we search the skies with powerful antennas hoping for signs of intelligent life, so far there is only silence. In the face of the silence, though, we sense something of wonder at work. Through the evolution that led to Earth, to life, and to our lives with our ability to reflect on all that we experience, there is a sense something purposeful is moving in the blossoming of the cosmos.
Perhaps there is some indefinable Force that lives within everything, embedded in the Big Bang and moving forward in the very time the Big Bang created. It ultimately comes to life when evolving circumstances allow. With life, the evolution continued so teventually a creature would appear in creation’s immeasurable vastness. It has eyes with which to see, and a heart with which to feel, and a mind with which to reason and reflect. It would behold the beauty and wonder of it all, realize life’s rare preciousness, and it would begin to try and understand its meaning and purpose.
Maybe this Force, this Power has become consciousness within us, and is what we have named as God? I wonder whether God is not really a vital urge born in every bit of creation that moves everything toward life, and with life, toward consciousness, and with consciousness to self-consciousness?
With self-consciousness, the seeds of compassion are born. Maybe as we become intentional bearers and vessels of this Force and Power, we become truly religious in the truest sense of that word. We connect with the very roots of our existence and reconnect with every other part of the web of life. We begin to recognize it is all something holy and sacred.
With the season of spring, those of us who are Christian prepare for the celebration of life, and new life, at Easter as we remember the resurrection Jesus. Those of us who are Jewish prepare for Passover, also a celebration of life, and the liberation to a new life. Many of our Moslem brothers and sisters celebrate the birth of the Prophet Mohammed, in late February. This, too, is a celebration of life and new life. For many Buddhists, the first full moon day of May is celebrated as Visakah Puja, the day to commemorate the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and death. Like the springtime holy days of the Abrahamic faiths, Buddhist also celebrate life, and a new life that is enlightened, a life that is mindful and conscious.
The essential truth of nearly all religious traditions, after you adjust for cultural differences and historical experiences, is love. It is to love the Source of all and to love one another just as you love your self. It is often stated another way: it is to do for others, as you would like them to do for you. Sometimes it is said in the negative: do not do to others, as you wouldn’t want them to do to you. The central characteristic of all religions is to love, and to love by doing that which enhances, improves and makes life a good and beautiful thing for others. To love is to honor and respect others through hearts and minds of compassion. Love is compassion lived in such a way that life, all of life, is affirmed.
It is very sad, and even tragic, when people, in the name of their various faiths, disrespect and do not love and honor others. When it happens it is an affirmation of death and not of life. When people of one faith reveal their hatred of others the forces of death are loosed upon the land.
A Qur’an is burned as an expression of mistrust and even hatred by a so-called man of faith and the forces of death are set in motion. When a Coptic church is burned as an expression of intolerance, life and love is diminished in the world and deeper mistrust is created. When one faith, in the name of its religion, literalizes its right to a particular piece of geography while at the same time denying equal rights to that geography for the people who were native to the land, the powers of death become victorious. When people, using faith as their justification, refuse to love others with compassionate understanding, darkness spreads across both time and space.
From the surface of Mercury, as one looks to the sky, the sky is black even as the sun shines upon the dead planet. There is little atmosphere, and no life to make the air breathable, so the sun is a bearer of deeper death in the darkness of space. On Earth, the sun shines and the sky turns blue. Our life-sustaining atmosphere diffuses the light and the sun’s power is softened. Life, not death, is spread across the planet with the spreading of the deep blue light.
This One whom we call God has moved with patience through the eons of time to surface in the light of our human consciousness. As we witness the deathly intolerance of which we are capable, this One, I imagine, weeps. Jesus wept at the grave of his friend, Lazarus. Seeing the victory of death is a sad thing to behold. Jesus, determined death should not have the final say, that death should not have ultimate dominion, he calls to Lazarus: “Come out! Turn to the light and choose life!” The unfolding and blossoming of the universe are, it seems to me, a cosmic expression of this call to life.
Planet Earth spins in blue and living wonder in the darkness of space as she revolves around the sun. She dances and sings with joy to life’s precious beauty. She sings a song of life and proclaims the truth that Mercury does not have to be our fate. We can choose life. To live, or not to live, this is always the question before us.
