Connections

I am connected to myriad other lives. The myriad are connected to me. Where do I end and the myriad begin? If I have no boundary, then my life is not limited.

Cellular Organization:

This thing called "myself" is formed of other selves. There are a bazillion cells in me, and each of them is an individual. Each an individual, not one independent. All depend for themselves on other selves, and I depend on them for myself.

Transpiration/ Respiration:

When I breathe, I exhale carbon dioxide to plants. When the plants breathe, they exhale oxygen to me. So we breathe to each other. The plants depend on me, and I on them.

Nutrition:

I eat, and food passes through. Some of it stays with me, but most goes to waste. The waste enters the lives of other beings. I eat from the earth, absorb the minerals of earth, and produce more earth.

Reproduction:

My mother and father came together, and produced me. I came together with women, and produced my children. Life flows from the past into me, through me, and from me into the future.