ABSTRACT

The cosmos is a vast tumult of existential silence. For 15 billion years it has evolved, from the big bang to its present state, and, for all we know, it has remained entirely unconscious of itself until very recently. In our minuscule corner of this physical maelstrom there evolved beings with awareness – beings that wonder about their own existence. It takes enormous stars to illuminate the heavens, gargantuan engines of light that energize and animate the cosmos. But it is we creatures formed from the dust of stars in whom tiny sparks of consciousness have ignited. It is we who ask: “What am I? Who am I? Where do I come from? How am I able to be what I am?” Of all the wondrous things in the universe – from galaxies, quasars, stars and black holes to the one planet we know gives rise to life with all its myriad creatures – we are, as far as we know, the only beings capable of asking such questions.