Stars, Galaxies, Collisions, Connection, and the Iron in Our Blood
This morning, as every morning, I reached for the raw iron tabs as my green smoothie was whirring in the blender. There were just a few tabs left in the bottle. Ok, I’d better pick up more at the health food store this weekend – don’t want to run out of iron.
I’ve been anemic all my life. I get plenty of iron in my
diet, but my body isn’t keen on assimilating it. So, I take more iron than a
body needs with the hope that enough will push past the anatomical roadblock
and I won’t need to take injections for the rest of my life. But the occasional
blood tests I take come back saying that I’m persistently anemic.
Anemia is not fun: the worse anemia becomes, the more
fatigued, forgetful, breathless, and dizzy you get. I don’t suffer these symptoms
to a serious degree, but I’m no stranger to them. Often, after my monthly moon time
is done, my body feels depleted and I grapple with that familiar weariness.
Iron is very interesting. In high school, and especially
college, I was a big planetology (planetary science) geek. My friend Tim and I
studied planets and stars and their ways of coming into existence over billions
of years. We even built a telescope together. It was very cool. I think I was
looking for some cohesiveness, some meaningful connection, between me and what
I observed all around me and ‘out there’.
I found that connection in iron. Fact: at this moment, your
heart is beating. It needs to move this molecule called hemoglobin through your
blood. Inside each molecule of hemoglobin is a single atom of iron. This iron
binds oxygen and allows it to move through your circulatory system. This little
atom of iron is actually the heart of your heart. It brings oxygen to every part
of your body and makes your life possible, beat by beat, moment by moment.
Another fact: the only way that iron is made is through supernovas
and supermassive stars. Only through the process of these stars forming and
exploding was the iron that courses through our bodies created. Where do stars
come from? Stars are the result of the collision of galaxies – ‘galactic
collisions’ - which create interstellar gasses, start fires, and form new stars
and whatever else remains after the collisions.
The process is this: the gravitational dance of vast
galaxies swirling together drive the process of galaxies colliding, which drive
star formation, which drive the process of creating the iron that’s coursing
through our veins, driven by the beats of our hearts, right now. And that’s the
way that iron found its path into the picture of our existence. In this simple
but concrete way, every one of every living being’s heartbeats is connected.
We’ve been given this amazing gift of consciousness.
Through consciousness, we have an opportunity to deeply understand this connection
to each other and everything that exists. And because we can deeply understand this
connection, we humans alone have the responsibility to go and use that knowledge
for the benefit of everything that lives.
This concept of connection is at the core of science
because it’s true and verifiable of the physical universe at every level of matter,
energy, and life. It’s more than something we wish we could believe is true. It’s
more than abstract. Everything really is connected, in a concrete and
understandable way.
I’m looking around me today and I’m seeing a society that’s
not getting it, even though the atoms of iron in all our veins – humans and
animals alike - all emanate from the same source, making us all literally one
of the same. The truths about the universe and life are ours to take and run
with. It’s time to adopt these truths and deepen our level of expression, our expanse
of compassion, and our understanding and acceptance of each other. We need to wake
up, get smart, acknowledge our oneness, and challenge ourselves about what it
means to live our lives from this beautiful truth.
Barbie xo
