9/27

It may seem that we are but a grain of sand on a vast beach—worthless and dispensable; what difference would it make to the beach if one grain of sand ceases to exist or has never dared to exist in the first place?

Our mistake is crassly presuming that we truly understand this incomprehensibly complex world we live in. The stark realization we must make is that there is no such thing as a world we can take things in and out of play within this chain of cause and effect. What’s so hard for us to understand is the path in which that singular grain of sand came to be a grain of sand in the first place; the atoms that constitute it have seen millions of years of change, have come from millions of sources since the dawn of this planet and this universe. And now, it is in a constant state of flux, continually being worn away by the sea, settled down to the bottom of the ocean, or latched onto the bronzed, parched skin of oblivious beachgoers. Does anything truly make sense if we “take away” that one grain of sand?

Everything in our world exists, whether we like it or not. That one grain of sand exists for the same reason all the other grains of sand exist. And we exist, whether we like it or not. And no matter the means by which we confront this existence, whether we choose to spurn or embrace it, we will play a role—a role that we do not ultimately choose—in this unceasing chain of cause and effect.