Today, dear reader, I’d like to look at something a little different. That would be an analytical and scientific examination of something we so often see but pay little mind to - a simple smile.
How might you describe a child’s smile? - “White teeth, stubby nose, big grin and beaming eyes” perhaps? You could tell how it makes you feel - “It’s contagious. It makes your heart glad” and such.
How could you describe a thing that is but still does not exist in a physical form? If it’s not composed of matter then you cannot tell its shape, color or weight.
If it is not composed of energy then you cannot describe its voltage, wavelength and number of electrons. If it isn’t a gas then you cannot compress its volume and count its molecules.
In other words, something not of this physical universe is quite difficult to explain using our material world terms.
Scientists will tell you, in no uncertain terms mind you, that such a thing obviously does not exist.
This is very true for the scientist because he totally believes that we live in a material universe of “stuff” and there is nothing else and can never be anything else that exists which is not composed of atoms.
So, we get back to observing our child’s smile. We know there is something else there. We can feel it regardless of whatever others say. So, we say it’s a quality and we call it “love”. And, of course, no one can truly define this either. However, songwriters, poets and movie-makers have devoted their entire lives trying to.
Also present in our child’s smile is a very similar “quality” we call “beauty”. And again, we find it hard to describe in regular terms.
We are sure it must exist because we can see it. Painters, artists and sculptors spend all their days proving this.
So, if this were a cosmic cooking show I might recommend you take a great big helping of matter, throw in a sizable voltage of energy, add a pinch of love and x amount of beauty and stir it all up. And after you let it sit for a while, what do you get? - Life!
And what is life, you may well respond? Well, I’m glad you asked.
Life is soft summer rain and little birds singing in the trees. It’s being woken in the bright early morning by the sweetness of a kiss and a smile.
It’s knowing the next words your friend is going to say. It’s feeling the sun in your face. It’s a fresh, cool breeze. It’s welcoming home puppy dog kisses, a firm handshake from a smiling neighbor and watching a baby’s first step. It’s the bright, piercing beauty of a sunrise.
Life is you looking at the world around you and filling it with brightness, wonder and adventure.
It’s looking in the eyes of a stranger and finding a friend. It’s laughter, joy and and making the world yours. It is the keen awareness of being alive in the here and now.
It’s pink and orange skies of a golden sunset. It’s the ever-changing colors of the distant hills as they fade into night. It’s the ability to love, be loved, have and create more love.
It’s the ability to communicate life to others. It’s winning the game, defeating the monsters, vanquishing the dragons, winning the hand of the princess and living happily ever after.
Life is the thing that makes little buds appear and burst into flowers after long months of bitter cold frost and snow. It is creating, surviving and winning another day. It is the ever-changing constant now.
It is what you make it, good or bad. It can be pain, suffering and hardship. It can be a prison or a paradise. It is a co-creation of hopes, aspirations and desires. it is kindness, fond memories and experience.
It is music, song and dance. It is the sharing of happiness. It is basking in the splendor of your own creation.
Life is!
Life is what changes a cold dead world into a breathing, living and habitable environment. It is not just the beauty around you, it is that which puts the beauty there and then perceives it.
It is the little girl’s dream of being a ballerina and the little boys of being a cowboy. It’s the magic that makes the dream.
It’s what puts the smile on the child’s face.
Dan is at danhughoconnor@gmail.com