Introduction

In the days before books and television, before computers and cell phones, before Facebook and Instagram, our ancient ancestors watched and wondered about their place in the Universe and composed stories—mythsMyth—to organize their experiences, many of which expound some aspect of cosmic order. Modern science has shown that, in a very real and profound sense, we are intimately connected to the Cosmos: we—and all we see around us—are a natural product of the workings and wonders of the Universe. This introductory chapter summarizes this book’s purpose to help the reader understand and appreciate this cosmic connectionCosmic connection, that we are, in fact, tied directly to distant events spread across the Universe in space and time reaching back to the beginning, back to the Big BangBig Bang, and continuing through the birth and death of successive generations of stars. We are stardustStardust—in a very real sense, children of the stars—star folkStar folk made from chemical elementsChemical elements (“star stuff”)Star stuff created by nuclear reactions in stellar furnaces and distributed throughout the GalaxyGalaxies during the various stages of stellar evolutionStellar evolution. Whether or not the stars above us govern our conditions (through astrological influences, as suggested, for example, in William Shakespeare’s King Lear)Shakespeare, they have certainly helped create our conditions—and, significantly, since these processes occur throughout the GalaxyGalaxies, the conditions for life throughout the Universe. It is hoped that the reader will leave, awed by the power and beauty of this cosmic perspective, with a better understanding and appreciation of our true cosmic connectionCosmic connection.