I Am Large, I Contain Multitudes

I am this body, which is the expression of certain genes in a particular environment, and this mind, which is the product of those and of all the other minds I’ve encountered. I am this life, which is discrete and individual, but it’s also the same life as that which first sparked billions of years ago. I didn’t spring from dead matter, after all, but from the living cells of my parents. As they did from theirs, and so on back to the first life.

My life is mine, but it is also Life.

My mind is mine, as well, unique. But It is made, in part, from the ideas and thoughts and words of others. Copies of them, coded on the patterns of neural firing, chemical lightning. I am a continuation of those thoughts, those thinkers, those lives.

Similarly, my words and ideas touch other minds. Part of me becomes part of them, and we are bound together in webs of meaning.

My mind is mine, but it is also Mind.

And spirit? I am inspired by a god who was old before the language I speak was new. His fire burns in my blood, his voice sounds in my mind. Through Him I am connected to those times and places, and to those who will know Him in the future.

My spirit is mine, but it is also Spirit.

Through these connections, I am part of all life and mind and spirit that was or will be. Even that is bounded in space and time, but I can live with that.