A Trillion Reactions
A trillion reactions a second.
A trillion jolts of electricity.
A trillion tiny elements
Adding up to one massive miracle.
A network of tiny circuits
Of chemical switches,
Of binary choices,
Adding up to a colossal
Unlikelihood.
A mesh of interconnecting strands
Of pulses
Streaming along,
Of waves
Of polarisation,
Coalescing.
The sum of chemical parts
Adding up
To touch
To sounds
To awareness
To pictures
In my mind.
A trillion reactions a second.
The sum total
Of who
I am.
Opher 15.3.23
I am conscious.
That is beyond me and everyone else. We take it for granted.
I am conscious.
I am nothing more than a trillion reactions a second.
How does that work?
Those reactions give me a whole universe.
A miracle of nature.
A product of three billion years of evolving complexity, more wondrous that the universe itself.
A one of?
So incredibly unlikely.
Yet it has happened. I am here. My reactions wrote this.
I’m going to sit here and contemplate that for a minute or two.