Wednesday, May 28, 2025

God's breath

The Oh-My-God particle

was an ultra-high-energy

cosmic ray detected

on October 15th, 1991

by the Fly's Eye camera


at the US Army Dugway

Proving Ground, in Utah.

As of 2023, it is the

highest-energy cosmic ray

ever observed. A single particle


with the energy equivalent

to a baseball falling toward

the centerfield fence

at fifty-six miles per hour.

Easy catch for the Say Hey Kid!.


When lower energy particles,

flung by the Sun’s stormy eruptions

collide with our atmospheric gases

they get pushed and sculpted

by Earth’s magnetic field.


The result is the shimmering

green and purple curtains

or cloven tongues of fire

of the Aurora Borealis

dancing above the polar sky.


The cosmic wind released

from the furnace of the sun

and Cassiopeia’s dying breath

spawn the cosmic gift,

the photons and nuclei,


the building blocks of flesh

and blood and bone.

Fish and fowl, frogs

and flowering trees;

butterflies sipping nectar.


God’s breath gave life

to the dust that became Adam,

the atoms of carbon, calcium,

iron and oxygen, themselves

the breath and ashes of stars.


When Jesus breathed

on the twelve disciples

he called it the Holy Spirit

and charged them to spread

the spirit in his name.

2 comments:

  1. Adam's first word was "god" after that God had breathed into ("in-spired") that lump of clay. Adam said , and you can breath out that primal word, too : softly utter, like a whisper "Ya'' - "weh"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is beautiful, thank you! A few months ago I read Marilyn Robinson's book "Reading Genesis". It was deeply inspiring, so much deeper understanding for me than my prior notions about the first books of the Bible. Especially the meaning of covenant.

      Delete