The cosmic tales of the geosphere

We live on a wondrous sphere: the Earth. But anyone today who explores the biosphere, technosphere, and mindsphere must first pass through a realm that is often forgotten – or worse: dismissed as boring. The geosphere, the dead, solid part of our planet. But what if this seemingly “lifeless” layer is actually the greatest mystery of all?

According to science, everything began 13.8 billion years ago with the Big Bang. Not a literal explosion, but an expansion of space and time. From that expansion came stars, planets, and eventually: us. That’s the story, at least. But no one was there to witness it. We reconstruct, simulate, and gaze deep into the cosmos, searching for echoes from a time when time itself had just begun. That’s how we concluded that our planet formed about 4.6 billion years ago. It was a young world, shaped by volcanism and countless impacts. Had you stood on the early Earth, you would have seen a constant rain of meteorites. It was no blue-green pearl, but a fiery chaos.

Cosmic stories
But however you look at it: no one saw it happen. And so, we tell stories. Of God creating everything in six days and resting on the seventh. Of Allah bringing the universe into being with a single word: “Be!” – and it was.

Greek mythology, too, is full of origin tales. According to one, everything emerged from Chaos – not a person or god, but a primordial state containing the four elements: fire, water, earth, and air. Even the Milky Way was given a mythical origin. In a well-known myth, goddess Hera accidentally sprayed her milk across the sky when baby Heracles was pulled from her breast. That’s how the white band across the night sky came to be.

There are also folk tales. In Bulgaria, for example, people once believed that Earth began as a lump of dough, kneaded and shaped until it took form.

Unanswered questions
Science has come far. We understand how stars and planets form. And yet, questions remain. There’s even a serious theory suggesting that life came from elsewhere: the panspermia hypothesis. Maybe the first life forms arrived via meteorite, and we are, quite literally, aliens.

The geosphere may seem like a silent foundation, but it holds all these stories – from cosmic legends to molecules. It’s not only the beginning, but also the canvas on which evolution, technology, and consciousness unfold. Maybe it’s not boring after all, but sacred. Or at the very least: magical.