Whirlpool and Ocean

Whirlpool: "I want to be as vast and mighty as you."

Ocean: "You are already that. Dissolve yourself and see."

 

Whirlpool: "But then I won't exist!"

 

Ocean: "You asked to be like me, not like me while                        staying yourself!"

Ocean: "All right then, just realise that you are

                   already a part of me. 

              And in that sense, already vast and mighty."

 

Whirlpool: "But I am too aware of my smallness

                           even while connected to you."

 

Ocean: "You are thinking more of what contains

                   you, not of what you truly are.

             A little earth, water, and more water

                 define you as a whirlpool.

             Think more about water

                 in all the whirlpools of the ocean.

             Think only of the water

                 across the entire ocean.

             And you will forget yourself.

             And your limitations."

All creatures, indeed all living and non-living things in the universe, are made of atoms. Or subatomic particles. A carbon atom from a 80-year old human or 200-year old tree is identical to the carbon atom from a just-born baby or a 1-day old sapling. This is an axiom of science. Once you reach the level of electrons, protons, and neutrons, nothing distinguishes one subatomic particle from another.

Space is amazing. It exists before everything else. In a sense, stars are congealed and "locational" space, much like a whirlpool is "congealed" ocean in a place.

 

Science posits consciousness arises from a collection of atoms, from a collection of organic molecules. This is easy to accept because I have been trained from babyhood to call the collection of molecules making up my body by my name. Yet, 55-90% [1] of living cells in my body are bacteria, viruses, fungi and other microbes. In my body, even the vast majority of human cells, RBCs, live just 3-4 months. Separated from the body by a blood donation, bereaved RBCs last barely a month. My body is continuously being rebuilt. Still, its cells are recognisably mine. At the deeper, or subtler, level of molecules, though, it is anonymous!

NOTES

 

[1]  https://www.sciencenews.org/article/bodys-bacteria-dont-outnumber-human-cells-so-much-after-all