Just in case I haven’t mentioned it yet, a fact requiring an investigation on its own, I am a huge fan of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. Zaphod Bibblebrox, the two-headed President of the Galaxy is sentenced to the worst punishment known in the universe. He is sentenced to the Total Perspective Vortex. The TPV is a box, designed to show those who enter, their actual place in the universe. All those who were previously sentenced to the TPV emerged out of it, understanding how small they were compared to the vastness of the universe lost their minds in a very profound way. Zaphod Bibblebrox, however, was not particularly impressed. In fact, his own greatness, at least in his own mind (mine too) was confirmed and validated.
This thought about the Guide, came to me as I was thinking of myself in different terms. By definition, the fact that I am here and writing, is evidence that I had parents. And so did they, and so on and so forth. I could claim, by induction, that my ancestors were there at the moment when life started on this planet. Indeed, I don’t know what they looked like, where did they come from, and what other offspring they had. But I know for sure, an ancestor of mine was present when life started on earth.
Furthermore, our own molecules, as the ones making up my ancestors consisted of matter that was there since the beginning of time. Possibly earlier, but there was no time to measure (that was a semi joke. I meant to write is as a joke, but then I realized that in certain ways, and according to certain theories, which I can’t comprehend, it is actually a correct statement). The carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and all those minerals that we all consist of, were there billions of years ago. They may have been part of other people, animals, even plants or bodies of water (see under “incarnation”). I’m sure some are familiar with the “you are breathing in molecules from the last breath of Julius Caesar” concept. Matter doesn’t go away, and doesn’t get created. Even creationists may agree that with one exception (creation itself), new matter is not introduced to this world.
I am not special. Parts of us, tiny as they are, were present in many grand events that took place on the planet. The Flood, The Exodus, The Plague, 9/11. Imagine, that one day, a great scientist would discover, that there’s memory at the molecule level, or even at the atomic level. Imagine what we will be able to learn and understand on our own past.
The point of all this: when someone asks you how old you are, think twice before you answer. I believe that about forty seven years ago, my mother gave birth to what was later known as myself. Although, I must admit, that there’s almost no cellular relation between that screaming baby and me. All his cells are long gone, and mine are just a few years old (more). What makes us related is that the original DNA strains and the memories I have link us together.
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