Jay Horne's Bubbles
Consciousness is the Center of the Universe
My kids love bubbles of all sorts. They will blow them in their chocolate milk even though they know it will get them the look.
Let’s not be naive, they probably blow bubbles in their milk in order to incite a reaction in us.
We all want a little attention.
Whatever, as long as they are enjoying their own little universe.
Way back before Galileo, man was certain that the Earth was the center of the universe.
Ancient civilizations even crafted a complex computer to calculate the future positions of the stars and planets based on this observation, called the Antikythera mechanism.
Check it it out, they we’re smarter than us!
That geocentric view lasted right up to the time that an apple landed directly on Newton’s head from above. That fact, instead of the fruit missing him altogether and striking the ground five feet away, told him that he was moving through space at the same speed as the apple and the rest of the planet.
This meant that the Antikythera device was going to need an upgrade.
Newton’s new law of inertia, coupled with a fresh heliocentric view (Sun Centered) of the heavens was the finding which temporarily shook the foundations of religion.
It was nearly as transformative as Charles Darwin’s findings on evolution.
But even Newton didn’t allow his new understanding to sway his belief in an almighty.
In fact, it strengthened it!
Though it out-dated devices, a new understanding of gravity and the sun did not eject the belief in God.
What the new knowledge did to the world was force humanity to give up its claim as the center of creation. No longer were we the planet Earth. We were just another planet circling the Sun.
And because we could no longer be sure that we were the center of the Universe, we could also be no less sure that the Sun were the ultimate center either. Furthermore, calculations began to suggest that if inflation were indeed the culprit to all-things-matter then there were actually NO center of the universe at all!
As boring as this new idea seems to sound, it actually became quite enlightening when the church finally embraced it.
Because now, just like when a kid is blowing a soap bubble, or inflating a balloon, the whole thing seems to be expanding from every point at once.
Which ultimately meant that the church had to admit that each individual person could carry an original spark of the beginning right inside of themselves, as all creation grew in tandem, together.
Priests were no more holy than paupers and paupers no more holy than pebbles for that matter!
We are all our own centers of the universe!
Want to try your own experiment?
You can take a rubber balloon and put dots along the outside in black marker. When you blow it up, you can watch as all of the black dots get bigger together. That is really the concept of inflation.
Assuming the rubber stuff is the only real, and the filling is just a bunch of hot air!
Not that I’m sure I buy all of that. It just makes for good writing.
I’m more of the belief that consciousness is the center of the universe. Both yours and mine.
I kinda think that everything exists within each conscious, where there is infinite space. The further away you go from the source the further away and larger things start to look. Only because they’ve become more complicated though.
But, realistically just because you’ve been running circles in your head doesn’t mean you’ve actually gotten any further away from God.
It’s all just an elaborate play on God’s word. Existence, I mean.
I mean, if we’re just specks on a balloon, and we ask ourselves who is doing the blowing…
Really, an outside blower can’t exist, theoretically.
Perhaps, it’s all of our going within. Self-contemplation and selfishness in general, for that matter, that’s blowing things up in this world?
Maybe if we spent more time on the surface of the balloon, building things with others, it would outpace the gravity of the hot air building up within. Ya know?
Bring things more down to earth. Closer.
All the excitement of knowing the unknowable can make you miss the magic.
I’ve always been so amazed at biology.
If you haven’t watched a seed germinate or a cell undergo mitosis, then you’ve never marveled at the universe being created.
What’s wonderful is, once a sperm germinates an egg and the developmental process begins for that embryo (or whatever piece of life that is growing), that new life form starts making a place for itself.
Starts filling a space that was previously unoccupied.
It goes on doing it until it exceeds the space that contains it, whether it be within a fruit casing, shell, or a uterus.
Then it goes on growing on its own. Taking up more space, and yes, exchanging elements already present in the world for its own body to become more a part of everything that’s out here already.
I use to collect those cicada casings that would be left behind after one molted. No particular reason, why. But now, looking back, it reminds me of how even when something comes briefly into this world before it dies, moves on, or transforms, that it still leaves an impression.
Like old fossils left their marks in ancient stone.
It’s like some God took a tiny coffee straw and blew some life into the stardust of our mother’s womb and created a baby shaped soap bubble that eventually would grow into a man.
Even if, while floating along on the winds of change, that man-bubble should happen to pop, he’s still made a void in the matter of this universe, and an impression of him will forever remain throughout.
Be it through his creative arts, his intuitions, his smile…
My daughter and I watch the soap bubble come away from the wand together.
It parts easier from the wand with a gentle shake or swirl.
She blows gently. Ever so gently, to get a bubble just as big as she can. She shakes it free and then tries to catch it with another bubble on her wand and watches them marry each other in some weird sort of reverse osmosis or something.
We laugh.
Some pop. It’s okay.
You just take another dollop of thick syrup and blow into it. Stretch it so thin that sometimes you can look right through.
— then,
away on the wind.
We each blow bubbles at once. Fill them with air from our lungs and set them adrift.
When they finally pop, it is easy to see that there is no difference between her air and my air anymore.
But if we were to each hold our breath and blow no bubbles, then we could very clearly see and feel that there is a distinction between her air and mine… and the tress.
Without another breath we’d just die!
Yet, when we take a breath and exhale, and the tree inhales our waste, then we are making an exchange and everybody’s air is the same.
Recycled, borrowed, transformed.
In fact, this is happening even if we were not to breath. Atoms and cells are swapping matter every moment on every level.
You and I are making exchanges. So, you are precious to me.
There isn’t a soul on earth who doesn’t want more. More air, more breath.
It is the nature of being human. The nature of being alive.
Even the tiniest plants and organisms reach higher, thirst for nutrients, and desire to grow.
It is an attribute that will never be quaffed. The desires for more is a hole that will never be filled. And it is good.
Desire moves the past from slumber.
Desire brings new experience. But, you can’t fill it with purses, money, Jesus, cars, or wives. It’s not something that needs to be filled.
It just needs to be celebrated and experienced through healthy exchanges between people.
What’s important is that you feel a sense of inclusiveness. That you recognize your neighbor as a part of yourself.
What Billionaire wouldn’t buy a poor man a sandwich if that man were asking him nicely?
Should we flatten Everest because the soil is a piled too high above the Savannah? No.
We should climb it. Bring some of the desert to the mountain top.
I don’t have to give you one-hundred-thousand dollars for you to feel that you’re my equal. You just have to stop looking at my bank account and feeling that you are being treated unfairly.
Sadhguru once said, “Those who have nothing are always most willing to share.”
If only the rich could adopt that mentality.
Everyone would agree to distribute the world’s wealth evenly if it would stop world hunger…
But, this doesn’t happen as readily as we all think it can because there are human belief systems and then there is human nature, because I’m not giving up everything except a single loaf of bread if I can’t get my kids to school and myself to work tomorrow.
Therein, I am part of the problem.
In my defense, it doesn’t mean I am not open to change and smaller sacrifices.
Besides, walking my kids to school and myself to work would probably be the best thing for us.
Sadhguru also once said that Communism was the best social economic idea ever invented. But, when the Democrat visited Russia and saw a man walking in the market with a hen under each arm he learned what was really going on.
“You are a communist?” asked the Democrat.
“Yes. The man replied. I am a party member.”
“So, if you had two cars at home and someone needed one you would give them your extra?”
“Of course, I am a party member I would do it.” replied the man, the hens clucking and bustling underarm.
“And if you had two rooms in your flat and someone needed that room you would give it up for the party?”
“I am member so, yes. I would do it. It is communism.”
“And if you had two hens and I needed one badly?”
“Goddammit man, this is all I got!” screamed the man and stormed off.
Once you squash the illusion that you are a granite statue with a backpack on to lug around your junk, you can more clearly see that what you are is a changing thing.
A moving part, using your memory to achieve the consciousness of what you desire.
Being angry, unpleasant, or jealous at your experience and environment isn’t going to help you remember it or understand it, for that matter. And one thing you must do is remember the experiences that you bring to yourself if you ever plan on experiencing what it is you’ve desired.
My daughter recently had a fun-filled event day at school. She was excited the whole day before about the possibility of winning a cute plastic cup that she wanted. But, when we picked her up she was extremely upset that she had not been drawn as the winner.
It took us nearly an hour to get her smiling again. In the meantime, she turned down a free lollipop at the pharmacy and refused to sing her favorite songs on the drive.
After her fit she finally asked if we could just buy her a cup like that. Of course, we had to say no since she acted the way she did. But, what if she hadn’t?
Oh come on, don’t judge us, we may just get it for her for birthday.
So, you’ve been through Hell? Great!
Dante doesn’t come storming up the steps of Heaven and tell God,
“Damn you! Do you have any idea what I have been through to get here.
Now, open the Goddamn gates!”
Else, God would’ve said, “It looks like someone needs another round in the red.”
But really,
I suppose it depends on how much of a sense of humor your God has…
The smartest thing to practice when you’re angry is to do like my wife suggests to our kids.
Smell a flower. Blow a bubble.
What kind of hell have you been through? Disagree with me? Let’s argue over here.
If you like stories that slap you right in the face, leave me your email here.
Wanna tip me and move on? Blow my skirt up here!
Wanna collaborate? Connect with me over a cup of coffee…
but not here.
That would just be weird.
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Jay Horne is an author and publisher out of Bradenton, Florida. He is a husband and father of four.
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