One must add to the list of things that made life on Earth possible the planet of Jupiter itself. Its size helps keep life alive. How? By regularly getting slammed by all manner of objects. The massive gravity of Jupiter, which is 318 times more powerful than our one and only planet, draws asteroids and comets to it. As a consequence, it does a lot of sweeping; it keeps the core of the solar system pretty clean. It shelters us. It swings sun-bound things back to the lifelessness of deep space. It is the brawns that made our brains possible.

On March 17, something small collided with Jupiter and exploded. This release of energy was so huge it was seen by an amatuer astronomer...

There was another impact event in 2009 that left a scar on Jupiter the size of the Pacific Ocean. Thank the gods (which can only be the same as indifferent nature) or the wanderings of the stars or the values that set this universe's machinery into a motion of its own and distinct making for Jupiter.

In fact, it takes only a little thought to realize that without it there very well could be no awareness of it. An area of concentrated mind, which is a characteristic of matter in much the same way as transparency is, needs an immense amount of relatively undisrupted time to reach the intense reflectivity of consciousness. We can see and say Jupiter.