This was something I wanted to add to my story that takes place between 1867 and 1900, but DNA had not been discovered to the extent I go into detail with this essay. So, I'm just posting it here. Yet, if I get a good response, I may add it to the story despite its historical inaccuracy.

 

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                                                                                                June 21st, 1897

 

            As I created a fire from trash and other refuse from around my home, I came to a realization that was blatantly obvious. I doubt that I could have come across this conclusion if I had not been as well rested on this summer solstice day. My mind works much better and much more efficient when I am well rested and not the least bit hungry, thirsty, or have my mind on anything other than the task at hand. As I stood and watched the fire I saw the smoke come off of the flames in a swirling helical motion that seemed to be just like the double helix of human DNA and reminiscent of the caduceus. As I watched, I wondered if the fire itself was alive, but in a different aspect of all living creatures. Perhaps the fire was a disease which consumed anything and everything until it was entirely consumed. I wondered if every fire I have ever started had a life of its own. Was it a rapid yet visually stunning disease of sorts that was clearly destroying anything in its surroundings? Were the molecules of the wood and refuse that were burning being taken into the air to dissipate only to be reincarnated into something else at a later date? As I saw the helical motion of the smoke, I imagined that this may be a clear sign that the secret of our DNA is just that…fire. Did not the ancients, soothsayers, medicine men and palm readers say that man was constructed of the four elements? The four elements known to early man were fire, water, air, and earth. 
            Are not, we, human beings parts of all four of these? Is it not said that we are created out of the dust of the earth in many different origin stories all throughout the world? Yet, after study, did scientists not find that we are mostly made of water? The air we breathe is what fuels us, and without it we are without the breath of life that maintains our existence. Is it not a fire in our hearts and souls that power our dreams, our wants and our desires? We may be made of innumerable cells and of various elements of the periodic table, but the ancients had it correct.  As time moves on, I do believe that the sciences will prove what the students of the ancient world already knew. The answers to life’s mysteries are not mysteries at all. They are clearly evident to the souls who want to understand the to’s and fro’s of life from every aspect. 

            Earlier in this day, I was pouring water and the way the water flowed out of my container, I saw that it too, was somewhat reminiscent of the caduceus as well.  The spiraled ropelike pattern the water flow showed me that like fire, water was an element that was also in constant motion. While the molecules of frozen water slow down, the molecules of a liquid are always in motion.  One of the most common indications of a living creature is its movement.  It is only fitting that we, as all living creatures of this earth, are mostly constructed of water and that as long as we are of the living, we are just like the rivers and oceans which are in constant movement. 

            It is rather curious that a plant can be born in the soil when the right amount of water is added.  Like mankind, the plants are of the earth and require air and water throughout its life.  However, grass and other plants can come back when they have been long thought to have been dead and gone, after the ground has been excited by fire in the previous season.  Once the land has been burned and charred, it is not uncommon for a field to bear a greener pasture or have plants or flowers that were thought to have been long been destroyed.  It is as if the four elements known by ancient man are not confined only to mankind or the animal kingdom, but to all life.  It’s the water and soil of the earth that construct us, the breath of life that awakens our bodies and the fire of our souls that keep us in going until we are no more.  And after we are gone, we become ashes or we return to the ground by decomposition.  Either way, we return to the very same earth in which we were said to have been created.

Unlike fire which took away life, water gives life.  And for the converse of this idea, one who has a fire in their heart can also drown by too much water when their breath is taken away.  Yet, it takes air and oxygen to create fire, or the soil of the earth or water to finish a fire.  It takes moisture in the air to bring forth precipitation.  And it takes the earth to contain all the water, air and fire that the world has known.  Just as the known elements of the periodic table are used to construct all that’s visible, the four elements of the ancient world work together and against each other in order to create and destroy which is nothing more than the circle of life.

            As I continued to watch the fire, I noticed the movement of the smoke. Of course, the helical motion of the smoke was something that originally triggered my deep contemplation, but this also spawned another simple idea that I had never considered. As I witnessed the smoke travel upwards, as all smoke does, I was reminded of the memories and previous incarnations of the trash and wood. I was reminded of how these items too will return to the earth.  Their molecules will fall to the ground, in the soil and water, and be taken in by the plants and animals.  It will return to the soil which in turn will create new life.

This trash and refuse was a burnt offering, of sorts. And as I thought it possibility of being a burnt offering, I considered what the significance of the burned animal could have been in ancient times. Clearly the gods that were being offered these burnt offerings were not benefiting in any way from the charred animal carcass. But…I asked myself, what if the burnt offering was an idea proposed by the visitors from the heavens? What if, by seeing the smoke from the heavens, the visitors, angels, aliens, gods could see that mankind was adhering to their suggestions?  These burnt offerings were simply reminders of the people to show their respect/love to the aforementioned entities. How else could the angels/aliens/gods see the act of sacrifice if there was no smoke? If the gods/angels/aliens resided in the heavens, are not the heavens, nothing more than the sky itself?  Would not these burnt offerings make sense? It would simply show that mankind was listening to their suggestions. But then again, who am I to question the intentions of those entities greater than me?

            I ask these questions on this sunny solstice, and despite my rambled musings, I know that I will never have a definitive answer to these pondered ideas.  Regardless of my wondering and my answerless questions, my imagination and yearning to understand the workings of life will not perish until the fire in my soul is one day quenched. 

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            To have an open mind doesn’t mean you believe everything that is thrown at you nor does this mean that you are dismissive of all that is said to you.  To me, having an open mind is to be able to see outside of what you normally wouldn’t think of.  In the past few months, my mind has been opened up to different points of view than what I have previously been exposed to.  Am I better off?  Of course, any time you can educate yourself or have life educate you, you’re always a better person for it. 

            I may have said this before, but I look forward to getting older.  I look forward to being able to learn as much as I can about the subjects that already fascinate me and the subjects that I have yet to even hear about.  I look forward to being able to understand people’s patterns of how they act or how they move and being able to deduct what’s going to happen next based on what I have noticed so far.  Learning people, their trains of thought and behaviors will be something that I or anyone else will never have enough time to fully understand.  As the information age matures, we learn (or I learn) that there will never be enough time to understand or learn all that there is out there for a person to study. 
            The things I value now are much different than the things I valued ten years ago.  The value of a conversation with a person with the same mind set is much more valuable than a pretty face.  The value of a friend when you’re down is more valuable than a friend when you’re pleased.  The value of a good night’s sleep is more valuable than a meal sometimes.  Knowing history is more valuable than knowing current events.   Knowing where you’ve been is important, especially if you don’t know where you’re headed. 
            Knowledge comes to those who learn from their mistakes and to those who want to learn.  Wisdom is being able to put the knowledge to good use.  


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 Jason 

           Groundhog Day…February second…The thirty third day of the year.  This is a day that I used as the birthday for Marcus Fox, one of the main characters in the book, The Secret of Mankind.  It’s a day that the groundhog would either see his shadow or would not, and the ensuing result would be the determining factor if there was another six weeks of Winter, or if Spring would be coming soon.  Of course, old wives tales have little to no scientific value and certainly no one person or creature can tell the future, or in this case, the severity of the weather by simply seeing his or her shadow or any other act that is not connected to the cause and effect relationship that which time operates. 

             Also I used this day because it’s the thirty-third day of the year, and the same number of years (33) that Mr. Joseph Fox was away from the United States.  The numbers I throw around at the first of this story are there to show the similarities with numbers involving the year 1900, but all in all, they really don’t mean anything.  In my own time, I have seen that there are always coincidences with dates and numbers, but as time goes on, these numbers, I’ve learned, don’t have any bearing on the future or the present or anything else.  These numbers and dates are strictly coincidences. 

            Just like the groundhog seeing his shadow, no arbitrary act, random number or peculiar coincidence can foretell the future.  No matter how hard we try to make a number or a date become a precursor of things to come, we can’t.  Life happens regardless of the man-made numerical or coincidental details that we like to attach these things to.  Of course, the presentation of Punxsutawney Phil (the famous groundhog in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania) is about bringing the media and onlookers from all over which in turn, brings more revenue to the town, but it’s still just a show. 

            Life happens, and we have to deal with it as it’s presented. Of course, there are things that still defy logic, and things that will be considered uncanny or could be considered miracles, of sorts, but everything happens because some other event happened before it.  This may be obvious, but I’ve seen that you have to know the obvious before you can really know anything else.  Which brings me to two points, I’ll discuss briefly. 

            I read a book a while back called, The Brain Mechanic. (A book you can purchase on the Shop page of this website.) The gist of the book was this: 

 

          Think before you react.          

 

          People usually react to an event due to the frame of mind that they are in when the event happens.  For example, if you’re sitting in a chair in a room and all of a sudden someone comes along and knocks you out of the chair.  Your reaction will vary depending on what you were thinking about prior to you being knocked out of the chair.  You may laugh, if you’re in a good mood, or may be ready to fight, if in a bad mood.  What I gathered from reading this book and this scenario is this:  Take the random, unrelated events that you have no control over…take these happenings at face value.

          In anything that happens to you, only react to the event itself.  Don’t read into it more than what is there.  Dismiss your previous notions or predetermined biases, and just react to what happen.  Try to find out why it happened before you react.  I say this because if we know the cause and effect in most situations, we are less likely to over react and make things worse. 

            And my other point is this, just like Groundhog Day, we can’t foretell of what’s going to happen based on anything, but the events that happened prior to what is about to happen.  Our actions are the effects of previous causes and they lead to other effects.  Life is a continuous flow of events.  Again, this is this is stating the obvious, but my point is this:   

                                   

            The future is what we make of it. 

           

            For example: You can’t win the lottery if you don’t play.  You can’t become a millionaire if all you do is dream or wish.  You can’t do anything until you try to do it.  Dreams are just random wishes, if you don’t put a plan into place and turn these wishes into real tangible things that you want to accomplish. 

            It’s taken me a while to understand that consistent bad luck isn’t a real thing.  You bring things on yourself because of bad decisions and making the same mistakes over and over.  If you say that a planet was in a certain movement around the sun is why bad things happen (commonly known as ‘mercury in retrograde’), is about as logical as believing that the six weeks of winter will be determined solely by the actions of a groundhog. 

            We are responsible for our how our lives turn out.  No outside force can make or break us, if it attempts to, we have to accept this obstacle, move forward and learn from our mistakes.  It has probably been said before, but we must be able to accept our wrongdoings and learn from them.  In doing so, we have to understand why things happen, not blame them on arbitrary events that had nothing to do with the event itself. 

          As someone told me before, "If you don't screw up, you aren't living."   And I've been told, "If you don't learn from your mistakes, you're bound to repeat them."  I know these are old phrases said a million times before, but just because its old and overused, doesn't mean that someone somewhere might need a reminder...because the groundhog can't tell you.  


 
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            Please subscribe to get an exclusive download of the prologue and first chapter of my novel, The Secret Of Mankind.  

You will NOT be bombarded with emails.  You will NOT get emails from any other businesses or services by subscribing.  You will only receive updates of my blog and future giveaways.

Thank you for reading, subscribing and your support.  

 Jason