A few days ago I paused to catch my breath, and I prayed for peace of mind.

Inspired by the personal reflections posted by a friend, I got started thinking about the Individual. Who are we? Who are you? Deep questions, I know. The type quoted by philosophers through centuries. But stop and think, deeply, who are you. If you could close your eyes and remove everything outside of yourself that you associate with, be it people, possessions, culture… what would be left? Some may find this more difficult than others.

In elementary school I was afraid that when I grew up I would forget who I was. I would practice sitting down, closing my eyes, and not thinking. What’s left is… well, you can’t really explain it. I can’t explain it. Spirit perhaps, which is communicated to others through these different venues such as culture. Different cultures describe the same things in vastly different ways. This is because there is no right or wrong way to describe certain characteristics, personalities, emotions, perhaps even the world itself. But I think the world could only be properly explained by describing everyone that makes it up in a universal language. Because underlying all these differences must be something universal that makes us all human.

But no-one can speak this universal language.

We are assuredly part of something much bigger than ourselves, and it is because we are given the ability to be unique that we understand so little.

And I am so unspeakably thankful for that. And for every individual I meet to share a moment, or a lifetime with.