Astrophyscist Neil deGrasse Tyson‘s words frame this beautiful video meditation on how we are all connected.

One of the reasons being Unitarian makes my heart soar is our fifth source: reason.  The fifth source calls us “to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science”. This desire to approach the world with the full powers of our mind as well as our hearts and spirits, is the essence of living a life of integrity.

I am continually inspired by the discoveries of science, which reveals how the universe is so much more fabulous, crazy, and wonderful than we expect it to be. As deGrasse Tyson says, it is astounding to see myself, down to my last little particle, as part of the glorious whole of the universe. We are all connected. We are stardust. We are golden. Just like Joni Mitchell said. That this is scientific knowledge doesn’t diminish the mystery and beauty of its truth, it deepens it. My skin, my blood, my flesh, is made of atoms born 13 billion years ago. So is yours. We are, as astronomer Carl Sagan said, starstuff contemplating the stars.

There is still so much to learn about this planet, this solar system, this universe of ours. Many more amazing revelations are still to come, and endless mysteries too. I am so glad to belong to a religious tradition that roots itself in scientific knowledge and celebrates the universe.