LIFE · The Magic School: Claim It All

LIFE

In honor of my father, this Día de Muertos I wanted to share his writing. He was a poet and a mystic, and before he passed away he was walking the path of reconnecting with his ancestral wisdom. He has passed that baton on to me. I wanted to share his incredible words with you here. Please share your thoughts in the comments. 🕯️🌼

LIFE

I am very thankful to the power who placed us all right at this particular place, at this particular time. Make no mistake, we aren't here by accident. We are here to experience something enlightening. We have been placed together on this earthly plane to love one another, to help out one another.

We live our lives so haphazardly; most of the time we are so thankless. We take everything for granted. We think the visible is all there is and don't give the invisible a second thought. But Socrates said that "the visible is only the shadow of the invisible." Think about life from the macrocosm to the microcosm.

Look at the universe: astronomers have mapped 100 billion galaxies in the seeable universe. Part of the universe can't be seen because it's so far. Each of these galaxies contains billions of stars. If you were to go to the beach and pick up a handful of sand, you'd have about ten thousand grains of sand in your hand. There are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand in all the beaches of the world. It is mind boggling! Not only that, but the suns, planets and anything else that you can see is called light matter, and that makes up only 1% of the universe. 99% of the universe is made up of stuff scientists can't even name because they don't know what it is — but they know it exists. They call it "dark matter." You, me, the planets, the stars; we are all made of the most uncommon "stuff" in the universe. And even in this vastness, planet Earth is the only one to exhibit intelligent life — but not always intelligence.

Scientists still argue as to what makes us humans human. Some said that intelligence is what made us human, so then the question became, what exactly determines intelligence? Language, said some. But we know that humans don't have a monopoly on language. Whales communicate through high-pitched sounds that resemble beautiful music. Chimpanzees have a sort of gruntal language, and so do gorillas. Both gorillas and chimpanzees have been taught and learned American Sign Language. So then they said that the ability to use tools is what made humans unique, but we know that chimpanzees use tools as well, and they learn their use by observing the older members of their societies. They use blades of grass to stick into termite mounds in order to coax the termites into coming out so they can eat them. They use rocks to crack bones and sticks to fight. The otter uses rocks, which it places on its stomach to crack open clams. Other species also build places in which to live.

I guess we think we are the most intelligent because some members of our species have manipulated nature into building gadgets of convenience, which in turn have made us so dependent on them that we cannot live without them. But if we are so intelligent, why are we always at war and on the brink of destruction? If we are so intelligent, why do we create so many sects: religious sects, political sects, social sects, racial sects, ideological sects, ad infinitum?

Nature doesn't work like that.

Human life is the sum of the lives of many, many individual cells organized and working toward a common good. When all the cells are healthy, the body is healthy. Disease is the result of processes that go wrong within cells or among cells. Diseases afflict us because of failed mechanisms within this system. Scientists have perceived a very interesting philosophical question: if a cell is a unit of life, then is a multicellular organism really a colony of one-celled individuals? If this is the case, then we are the habitat for sixty trillion individual cells — or eleven thousand times as many units of life as there are human beings on Earth. There are about 200 different kinds of cells with different shapes and jobs, but all are similar in basic structure and internal workings. Many kinds of cells can be removed from the body and can live as independent organisms. Our cells can live without us, but we cannot live without them.

Look at the miracle of birth from the perspective of the epic journey of the sperm. When a man ejaculates into a woman's vagina, he will release anywhere from 300 to 500 million sperm. A quarter of these will be killed instantly by her defenses. The sperm are foreign invaders, and her body rejects them. Many of the sperm are deformed in many different ways and cannot swim. 80% of the remaining sperm stay behind at the entrance to the uterus. No one knows how they decide which stay behind, or why. One theory is that they stay there to block any other sperm from entering the uterus. The 20% which continue with their quest for the egg — their only goal — have an extremely difficult task. Of the hundreds of millions of sperm which began this amazing journey, only about 50 ever find the egg. Of those, usually only one fertilizes it. The result of this extraordinary journey, in this extraordinary place, is you and me.

And, on an even deeper level, we are beginning to learn that we as humans and everything else in the universe come from dust and will one day become dust once again, in a cosmic recycling of birth and rebirth throughout the ages. The Earth is made of molten dust. The calcium in our bones comes from the dust of stars that have exploded in far-off galaxies. The old saying "from dust to dust" seems to be less metaphorical and more literal the deeper we look.

After knowing all these facts, after realizing that we are capable of accomplishing almost impossible acts full of perseverance, courage and ingenuity, how can we possibly remain thankless for the privilege of life? How can we continue to feel small about ourselves, and how can we not be humbled by such wonder? Let's learn to look at life for what it is: a miracle given to us by God.

Let's not waste another minute feeling pity for ourselves or hanging on to petty resentments. Let that go and start enjoying life. It is time to change the way we view things and ourselves.

From a spiritual perspective, life only becomes more magical. The power that makes the suns burn, the planets revolve, the flowers bloom, the clouds rain and our hearts beat — that power is the One people call God by different names, and praise in different forms, in different cultures, at different times. That power makes it all possible. It is this that all the sages and knowers of the truth throughout history have implored the masses to pursue, in order to find true happiness, in order to find peace. That power is within all of us, waiting to be discovered.

The future, as we see it, can be anything we make it. Not just on a personal level, but on a global one as well. Mohandas Gandhi said: "Be the change you want to see." It has also been said: "We are the people we've been waiting for." Think about that: "We are the people we've been waiting for."

William James said: "This overcoming of all usual barriers between the individual and the Absolute is the greatest achievement. In this state we both become one with the Absolute, and we become aware of our oneness."

In this state, as James points out, there is no racism, no sexism, no better, no less; no need for envy nor hatred. No need for war. In this state we are one with the All.

I say all this because it is important to have good morale. I don't say this because I believe injustice in the world doesn't exist. In fact, injustice seems to be at an all-time high. But we must understand the huge energy reservoir of goodness that lies — dormant in many cases — within us. We must tap into this in order to be strong and positive. It is up to us to create the future which will benefit not just us and our loved ones, but society as a whole.

The poet Maurice Sachs said it best when he wrote: "I glimpse in the distance certain roads, clearings silent after the night's demons have fled: the future, the ageless future, where there is always time to create."

— Tony

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