In the Light of Photosynthesis

At the foundation of our lives is a biological process that is responsible for all of the food that we eat and every molecule of oxygen that we breathe. It is called photosynthesis. For many of us, eating and breathing are simply two different things that we do to stay alive. We have no idea that they are intimately connected and even less of an idea about how our bodies connect with the entire evolutionary history of life on Earth. Evolution, for the human, is generally only discussed in terms of our emergence from a certain order of animals called the primates. But that is too limited a view to really gain insight into our full identity as human beings. The story is much, much bigger and billions of years longer. It goes back to the beginning of life on Earth and from there to the stars and the whole evolutionary journey of the cosmos.

The clues are to be found in that foundation of our lives: photosynthesis. In this phenomenon lies a unique pathway for discovering just how deeply connected we are to the rest of life, and to the cosmos. Within its intricate action to use sunlight to fuel the production of energy-filled molecules, there is a fuse that goes back to the beginning of everything. With the benefit of scientific research across many disciplines we can track that fuse now, and in doing so a window is opened. It reveals a staggering vista through which we may come to a new sense of our identity as human beings, and with that, a more profound sense of our purpose today. In the gleaming heart of photosynthesis lies the place where the cosmos meets micro-cosmos and purpose may be perceived as inseparable from all that exists. It is an awesome discovery. But it is not simple. It is subtle and deeply nuanced.

In the gleaming heart of photosynthesis lies the place where the cosmos meets micro-cosmos and purpose may be perceived as inseparable from all that exists. It is an awesome discovery. But it is not simple. It is subtle and deeply nuanced.

Photosynthesis – A Journey of Energy

Our life does not start with the breakfast, lunch or dinner we may consume today, but deep within the blindingly intense, light-shining body of hydrogen gas that sweeps across the sky every day. That’s where our muscles, our hearts, our brains get their energy—from a place that is way down deep in the Sun’s interior, where the hydrogen atoms fuse together, and become helium. By that fusion, in the cauldron of the Sun, we draw our being. As the atoms of hydrogen give way to the inescapable fate of fusing together, they release a tiny portion of their mass. The mass spontaneously converts into radiant energy, reverting to its original condition at the birth of the universe when all was too hot for atoms to exist. This hot and turbulent place, most alien to tender human beings, is where our daily life really begins.

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IN THE LIGHT OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS

A Reflection upon Purpose