These are truly remarkable times. Before our very eyes the course of human history on this planet is being determined for generations to come. When the net effect of all the pressures and arguments are brought to bear in this American democracy, there is still a sense that things can go right. Never to the satisfaction of everyone, of course, but for the good of our species generally.

The image being circulated on the Internet that has grabbed me most in the last week has been the NASA shot taken a million miles away that shows both a bright blue Planet Earth with her gray moon posed in front of it, kind of a reverse eclipse of sorts. Somehow, that seems to elicit a unique and poignant sense of where we are in the grander scheme of things.

Consider that along with the quote from Neil DeGrasse Tyson to the effect that “the greatest gift of modern astrophysics comes from a paper published in 1997 noting that the atoms in your body, the nitrogen, iron, carbon, all are traceable to cosmic crucibles deep in the centers of stars manufactured by nuclear fusion which exploded and scattered an enriched gas cloud into space. We should not look up to a vast universe and feel infinitely small, but instead realize that the universe is alive in us.”

Yes, that’s it. That image of Planet Earth with its moon encompasses all of us, we are part of it, a living, teeming, sentient, intelligent manifestation of it just as our planet is part of a universe that produced it, a child of it, spinning and advancing at breakneck speed. It includes you and me, Pope Francis, Donald Trump, Taylor Swift and all the rest of us. There is no getting away from this astonishing reality and what it may mean for each and every one.

We can truly appreciate the effort that went into the decision of House Speaker Johnson to finally let the vote be taken on the massive aid bill for Ukraine, Israel, Palestinians desperate for aid, and Taiwan. But it seems the major media will never get it right, as they focus on one small aspect of this momentous development, such as the future of TikTok, and not its decisive impact on the lives of so many millions of us.

This period is akin to the early 1940s, when Hitler was advancing across Europe and no one was certain how it would turn out. The defeat of Hitler was anything but assured. Many in England felt at the time that his invasion and takeover of the British Isles was inevitable. It was, had it not been for the entry of the U.S. into the war, and that was hardly a certainty at the time.

This stage of our history is large and with cosmic consequences, even if we are not in a position to know how. Down in our souls, where the originating forces of the universe are active within us, the options and determinants of this world lie in the decisions we make, one way or the other. We know the power of our minds that can stand for things even in the wake of the seemingly worst kinds of pressures. The steel of a determined mind is stronger than any force.

The human mind feeds on knowledge, on learning. It is its principal form of nutrient. It can be led astray, no doubt, but it eventually prefers the product of its own making, knowledge and truth.

Now, the truth is coming to Donald Trump and his pathetic horde of followers that include many prominent names who will proceed down that escalator of his to the abyss. He is now trapped in that Manhattan courtroom even as his soul is desperately seeking ways out through sleep and excessive sleep- farting. Not the way he has been used to operating. If only he would follow the example of his own former sidekick, Michael Cohen, ditch the b-s and come clean at last. What a powerful wave of relief that would be for him.

Events of the next few weeks may prove stranger than you expect.