OUR SUN

Sun — center of our universe, source of the energy that supports life on earth. The imagination floats up from the sun, out through the solar system, passing each planet in turn. Up ever further until we see the sun as only another star in a constellation of stars. Then the constellation recedes until it appears no more than a spot of light among billions of lights forming the Milky Way. Further out, until the galaxy appears but a tiny star among trillions of other galaxies, then outward to the edge of our universe. Looked at from the side, it looks like a little loop of energy.

Back down to earth, we return with the speed of thought. Behind the diaphragm, our lily gently rocks on the water under the warmth of the sun. Dragonflies dart by, birds sing, and fish swim below the surface. What an amazing world. Attention microscopes down to a lotus petal. Down to the individual cells. Down further to the molecules making up the cell, then the atoms forming the molecules. Further down to the electrons, protons, and neutrons that comprise the atom. On down to the quarks that are the building blocks of the protons and neutrons. At this minute level, the distance between the matter that forms the subatomic particles is so great that it is, in its own scale, as great as the distance between the stars in the heavens. Our physical universe is mostly energy with very little matter. Further yet our imagination carries us, till we see what comprises the quarks, looked at from the side, little loops of energy.

QUARK