A Stellar Analogy

Discovery.com

Our sun fuses 655 million tons of hydrogen into 650 million tons of helium every second. And while 655 million tons seems like a lot, it's barely a fraction of the total mass of the sun. This process has been going on uninterrupted for a very long time, and will continue to go on for several billion years until the sun converts so much hydrogen into helium that there's a fuel crisis. What happens when the increasing amount of helium in the sun's core interrupts the fusion process is the subject of this post and an analogy to help illustrate the relationship between what we do and who we are.

But first, a few caveats: I'm not an astronomer, and I don't really know these complicated systems that well. I undoubtedly will get things wrong. Still, I'm not concerned with the numerous ways stars develop and can end--this is one possible way that I find interesting and applicable. Also, I recognize that there are a number of significant flaws in this analogy. Try to take what you can from it and ignore the illogical parts.

Ok, let me switch from talking about our sun to a much larger star, which has slightly different rules/outcomes. After the helium chokes the hydrogen fusion in the core, the fusion process shifts to a shell around the core. The fusing shell of hydrogen compresses, heats, and ignites the helium in the center to start its own fusion process. The helium in the core fuses into carbon, which eventually collects enough to choke the helium fusion at the core, which creates a second shell around the core. So the outside of the star is a shell of hydrogen fusion, inside of which is a shell of helium fusion, inside of which is a core of fusing carbon. You can probably see where this is headed. The carbon creates neon, which creates oxygen, which creates magnesium (or silicon?), which creates iron (this is a gross simplification of a very complex and poorly understood process, but whatever). Here's an illustration from wikipedia:

The star has always fought a battle, with gravity pushing in and internal pressure from fusion pushing out. At this point the increasingly ineffective substances nearer the core (iron as a fuel is about as "inefficient as stones in a fireplace") don't provide the pressure to keep the gravity at bay. Without the outward pressure of fusion, the star collapses in on itself. Depending on its size, it will either completely collapse (forming a black hole) or it will collapse then ignite, exploding much of its fuel at once in a supernova. Either way, the star is no more.

Ok, analogy time. We are the stars. And while actual stars burn substances that they've had all along, we get to choose the type of substances that we put into our system. Hydrogen is efficient--it stands for healthy gospel living: selflessly helping others, working to understand ourselves and our place in God's plan, etc.--anything healthy, good, praiseworthy, or virtuous. The other elements stand for other, increasingly less noble actions. Helium might be a hobby that doesn't help further your long-term goals, carbon might be an off-color Youtube video, neon might be a dependence on sugar, etc. Iron and its ilk are the really destructive habits--pornography, drugs, etc. Once these are clogging our life, a major breakdown is inevitable. 

We might have a portion of things we do that aren't conducive to healthy living, and we tell ourselves it doesn't pose a huge problem. Like the sun right now--it has 25% helium, but that doesn't mess with its core process. Similarly, we might feel like we can spend time on good things--instead of better or best things--and it won't affect us. Eventually, if we're not careful, we find a shift in our habits. Instead of being excited about daily prayer and scripture study, we are more pumped about watching uplifting movies and reading happy novels. After a while the movies aren't quite as uplifting and the novels aren't quite as happy. Each shift of action provides less outward force to overcome the pressures we face. At some point we don't "have the energy" to work on that skill we've always wanted to. More TV takes it place (carbon and a bit of neon). 

Eventually, if we haven't carefully filtered what comes into our life, we're producing and trying to use iron as a fuel. And iron is not a fuel. Pornography does not provide anything of worth to us as human beings. It's a waste and if we try running our lives on it, we will end up imploding (becoming spiritually dead and morally bankrupt) or exploding (becoming criminally obsessed with sexual stimulation until we're no longer safe to be in society).

A star can't get rid of the iron or other elements it's created, but that's where we're different. We can replace inefficient substances with more efficient ones. Still, it's not enough to just overcome iron. We need to get rid of all the other elements that lead up to it and replace them with the purest, most efficient fuels. Only a pure source of fuel can propel us through all life's pressures. And unlike this analogy, there is upward progression. We can be purified, building ourselves upward "line upon line and precept upon precept."

We need to figure out what things we put into our lives that we justify because they provide "energy" ("I need to play video games when I come home--I've had a stressful day and I need to relax"), ignoring the fact that they can lead to potentially crippling actions that will destroy our ability to overcome life's pressures. We also need to ask ourselves if the things we fill our lives with are wholesome and uplifting enough to provide us with the force we need to resist outward pressures. Today when I met with the bishop and talked about my plans for recovery, he shared a great insight that resonates with what I've been saying. He warned that I not get too caught up with the recovery actions (going to recovery group, checking in, etc.) that I miss the most important question about my actions--"is this something that's going to invite the spirit into my life?" Similarly, the process of purifying our fuel might be as simple as being sensitive to the things that offend or invite the spirit.

In other words, to become the most efficient and powerful "suns" we can be, we need to fill our life with the purest, most efficient fuel there is--The Son.