There is a little fire

A child scrapes his hands through the sand

He pulls up a great fistful of shimmering silica

And inside that little clenched galaxy he holds a shifting conglomerate of empties

A collection of voids,

A crumbling lattice of chasms

Infinite bottomless pits—

Each plunging

Each running deep and wide between billions of lonely, trembling atoms

And the child laughs and

He throws the sand in the air

The sun and the diatoms are in his hair

And he is the cosmos, drawing breath

He is the very Earth, encountering itself

He is the universe: given to feeling and self-discovery!

If only for a flash

If only for a spark

But there is a fire and there is a light

In the boy and in his life

For he is fully alive

Fully purposed

And fully actual

This boy is the glory of all creation

But he does not know it

What about you?

***

Authors note:

The boy in this story could be anyone or no one. He is just a symbol for each of us and for life in general. What I’m really saying here is that I often look at life and the living as really nothing short of mind shattering miracles.

Matter itself is miracle enough, but the fact that the matter which comprises the universe has pieced itself together in such ways as to allow consciousness and feeling to spring up is just absolutely wild. It’s awe inspiring. Whether you think it’s by luck or by design, it’s just awe inspiring to consider! Chemically speaking we’re literally just pieces of the earth, moving around and interacting with other sentient pieces of the planet.

And in all that, there’s quality to life? Suffering. Enjoyment. Hostility, and love.

I think about this all the time.

But I almost never voice the thought. Because it just feels (and probably sounds) way too trippy to share.

Imagine some dude stopping you on the street, looking into your eyes and asking if you even realize that you are the universe?

You’d make a hasty retreat and wonder what the heck was wrong with that weird guy.

Or atleast, that’s what I’d do even though I’d plainly agree that the dude is a miracle too.