Allen L Roland

Rendering of the Milky Way and its central bar as it might
appearfrom above. Arrow shows location of our Sun.

There are over 200 billion stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way, but Hubble has estimated that there are over a billion galaxies in the universe which makes one point increasingly clear ~ WE are not only not alone but are united through a common innate urge to unite:

Astronomers estimate that the Milky Way contains about 100 billion stars. Recently, however, this number was upped by about a billion after the discovery that very old, nearly invisible stars had escaped earlier detections.

Our Sun, which is 4.6 billion years old, is located 26,000 light-years away from the galactic center on one of the spiral arms. It is a location considered more suitable than others for harboring life, in part because the central region is too chaotic, and in part because the concentration of metals there is too heavy, and it’s too light in the galaxy’s outer fringes.

The Sun makes one complete orbit around the galaxy about once every 225 million years. In contrast, stars near the galactic center complete a lap in a few million years or less. These stars as a group tend to be younger than the galactic average, most ranging in age from 1 billion to 10 billion years old

Most of our galaxy is relatively uncrowded ~ the nearest star to our Sun, for example, is 4.2 light-years away. But roughly 10 million stars are known to orbit within a light-year of the galaxy's center.

But what if all of these stars, as I maintain, are connected by a Unified Field of love and soul consciousness ~ that resides deepest within each one of us, transcends boundaries of time and space and whose principle property is the universal urge to unite.

Love leads us to another dimension of consciousness within which this universal truth is readily apparent.

How can you not look at this rendering of the Milky Way and not feel like you are part of something far greater than yourself ~ but at the same time innately connected to it.

There must be be something very special and profound that connects us, not only to each other, but to all the other stars in our own Milky Way, as well as a universe of galaxies ~ and what could be more special or profound than love.

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Allen L Roland
http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2009/06/28.html

Freelance Online columnist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews and speaking engagements ( allen@allenroland.com )

Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net