The following quotation is from the Max Planck Institut in Germany:
Where does iron come from? According to astrophysicists, iron, like all other heavy elements, is created in the center of massive stars, and is expelled into space once these stars explode as supernovae at the end of their lives. The material then mixes with the interstellar matter and may form new stars and planetary systems. Our solar system was formed after several generations of stars and therefore contains enough heavy elements like iron, oxygen etc. to form Earth-like planets and to sustain life.
Cast iron. Shackles. Magnets. Cemetery fences. Cutlery. Patio furniture. And, hemoglobin. Just a few things that come to mind. Not immediately poetic imagery.That last one, hemoglobin, gives me pause. The iron in my blood. It is once again obvious that my very being is due to stardust, intertwined in cosmic relationships.
Blood relationships. When humans amass or procreate enough units, tribes are the result. Naming, identity, is usually based on blood relationships.
Relationships also define organizations. People are attracted when there are open and welcoming relationships, or at least the promise of such. We know who we are by deciding to whom we are related. It’s what you see and sense when you enter a Sunday morning gathering of people who value relationships. Warm, expansive, non-intrusively inquisitive, multiple orbits of relationships.
What would it mean if all tribes everywhere knew, really knew, that the very stuff of life, blood, is derived from stardust? Related to stardust? Parented by stardust?
Iron as metal, forged in fire, can be formed into many items. Red blood cells are shared by all creatures with spines, except ice water fish. So, I’m pretty directly related, by blood, to all of those creatures that can bleed. And to those which use oxygen, because what hemoglobin does, carry oxygen around.
Wouldn’t it be interesting, every time someone wants to sing or preach about the redeeming blood of Jesus, for instance, if the singers or preachers were first reminded that blood is blood because of hemoglobin, which is found in red blood cells, which consists of iron that attracts oxygen, and which came from stars that burned so hot they exploded iron all over the universe?
Membership organizations focus on blood relationships and sometimes to the exclusion of others. All too often the exclusion is intensified into violence. Families, tribes, churches, ethnic groups, nations. The fault is not the blood relationships. If only we will remember to thank the stardust.
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