Within this fragile world of systems great and small, here I am.
Oh, this fragile world that I have barely touched
In a small corner
Of a big city
Filled with other hopes and goals and futures and pasts
What a beautiful place filled with minds like mine!
A city so divided and yet we work together everywhere
Stop lights, sidewalks, restaurants, highways
Somehow working on all levels
Both together and separate
The shared consciousness of a million other dreams and cultures
And who am I within this?
Just one man, could that be special?
I say to you, either every ordinary man is special, or no one is
For look closer! more intricate layers await
My body is a city of its own
A subway system for a world I cannot see
Billions of neurons and trillions of synapses
Biochemical circuits rush to create hormonal waves
Millions of organisms and cells running in methodical patterns
Oh, how humbling it is to know I cannot even know or control the very vehicle I am in!
What can man do but sit somewhere in-between these two layers?
Observe whatever fleeting sensations rush into perception?
What a mighty God to be such infantesimal detail on every scale!
What a beautiful process I cannot and never will fully understand
All I can do is sit back and observe the unknown, and learn every day how little I know
And learn every day how little I control
Control
We fear what we cannot control
Our minds seek to grow to the size of a million men
“If I can impact the world, my life will be bigger than just one”
We seek to mold the layers into our shapes and sizes
Oh, neurons, firing through patterns created in the womb!
Why do you fear being one of many?
For I say to you, either every ordinary man is special, or no one is
You are an expression of a never-ending infinite universe!
You are the universe experiencing itself!
A world with layers so small and so large, and here you are
Somewhere in the middle, seeing what you do
Who put you here?
Why is this collection of sensations experiencing itself?
Oh friend, you ask questions that have been asked for thousands of years!
Millions of men before you have tried to answer these questions
And millions after you will do the same
Layers of history of men and women seeking to understand the world God put them in
Writing books and novels and philosophy
Praying and seeking and creating
And here you are, somewhere in the middle of the story
You may not reach the ending
But nor were you at the beginning
So go and look for all the answers you can find!
But know, dear one, that your life’s purpose is not to know for certain what comes next
Or why this is happening now
For generations of men have sought these answers before you
And generations of men after will continue
And yet, here you are.
For this type of control is an illusion
You cannot control the world around you
In the same way you cannot control the blood cells that make you
And that is okay.
You are somewhere in the middle.
Again I say, either every ordinary man is special, or no one is
Because every man on earth has the same questions as you
And the same layers as you
And here we all are, together, in the middle.
Learning about these layers, before and after us
Around, above and inside us.
We are all ordinary people that together make up the layers of the world around us
And you get to experience that.
Once you understand that you are an ordinary person
That may never know what is next tomorrow
Or how his body creates its own cells
Or what sensations he will perceive
Once you just begin to experience the middle layer,
You will soon find there is nothing wrong about being ordinary.
For you and every other ordinary person are incredibly special
Because you’re here.
“Just look around you.
You’ve got another day to live on this Earth.
Enjoy it.”
