Huh. They weren't kidding when they said that life is a gift

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I read an interesting article a few days ago that says that an ancient virus could be responsible for our consciousness. I find the whole idea fascinating because that article goes on to say that the human genome (and the genomes of all 4-limb animals) is rife with viral genes that have hitched a ride our on chromosomes. But here's the kicker: viruses are genetic parasites, yet somehow, the gift of consciousness comes from a parasitic virus.

What a happy coincidence that a virus gave us the gift of consciousness. Now anyone with a cold sore, a cold, or the flu may happen to disagree. But the irony of that recent discovery is cosmic in proportions. We could say that humans and other animals have made lemonade out of the lemons (the viruses) by using them to create consciousness. Or we could just call it a gift.

And that isn't the only happy coincidence I want to talk about here. In my life, I have had numerous coincidences of good fortune, with a particularly heavy density of good fortune starting from the time I got married.

I can't say that I started life all so well. I was born with a cataract in one eye and that was removed, so I'm blind in one eye. I'm deaf in both ears, but for one ear, I'm close to normal in low frequency and have lost much of my hearing in the high frequencies. I've had a few surgeries in the first 5 years of life, too. And yet, somehow, I've managed to find some happiness. I have a sense of perspective that allows the glass to be half full.

In the last ten years or so, I've been on a continual progression to prosperity. From buying a house at the bottom of the market in 2009 and closing the deal in 30 days to buying another house 5 years later, while selling the first and still closing in about 30 days. I have a nice job. I have two kids. I have a couple of cars that are old, but I bought them new or fairly new and now they're paid off.

Then I got this kickass internet connection from an entity that could be best described as a public utility (shameless plug for utopianet.org) and there is nothing offered by private ISPs that can beat it. It's fast, up and down, reliable and it just works. I don't have to think about it.

Most important of all is that I got married. Today is my 11th anniversary of marriage to my wife, Alice, aka, @athomemom. I have shared more than 11 years with Alice and I'm a better man for it. I really didn't know what I was doing and I fumbled my way into it. All I know is that I'm happier today than I have ever been.

What I've had is a long series of events of good fortune and science doesn't seem to explain it. I've had numerous friends along the way who had similar experiences. They just kept getting what they wanted and they couldn't explain it, either.

I think years before I got married, someone gave me a gift to put it all in perspective. He printed it out on paper and gave it to me. I still think about it from time to time, to this day:

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth -- ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:

That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too.

All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and imagination in it. Begin it now. ---Goethe

But all of the prosperity I enjoy now has more meaning when I share it with someone. I'm sharing it with my wife, who has been my partner in all of this prosperity. I'm sharing it with my kids. I share pieces of it with my friends, friends of my wife, and friends of my kids. Life is just better when shared with someone else. And as someone who has spent a great deal of his life alone, I can say that I know that now.

I've looked back on vacations I took alone as a young man and have noticed, besides some blurry photography, that there was no one else there. Just landscapes, things and places I can't even remember. I'm sure I would have enjoyed those trips with someone else at my side. I might have a better memory of those places if I was with someone else.

I also noticed that when I stopped keeping score, life got better. I stopped looking at life as a long game of tit for tat. I just give and let it go. I don't worry about getting something back. I don't concern myself with what people do with what I give.

For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business. -- TS Eliot

I guess that is what consciousness is for. It's there to allow us to share our experience with others.

Plenty has been written about our Goldilocks planet, just the right distance from the sun, with just the right amount of atmosphere at the right temperature to support life. And don't forget all that water and organic matter to go with it. None of this would matter without the plants that figured out a way to metabolize carbon dioxide with power from the sun to make oxygen for animals to breathe. And when we exhale, we return the gift to the plants in the form of carbon dioxide.

Regardless of whether you believe that there is an all-knowing, all-seeing, benevolent creator, and I'm agnostic on that point, it is hard to look at everything that makes life possible on this planet as anything but a gift. For me, I take one look at our deep blue sky with little puffy clouds here and there, and I get that feeling that it is all a gift.

As I write this, I am also reminded of a gamma ray burst scientists observed in 2010. In that event, a magnetar, a neutron star with a very strong magnetic field, had what could best be described as an earthquake. In that even, the magnetar released the equivalent of 250,000 years of the output of our sun, in one second. Had that happened anywhere within 1000 light years of earth, one side would be burned to a crisp. I'd say it's a gift that we have an atmosphere that protects us from radiation from not just the sun, but also the universe.

The past is gone. The future is not here yet. But the present is a gift. This moment, right now, is a gift. The fact that everything has come together to make experience of this moment possible, that is a gift.

It's easy to say that is all very mechanical and mathematical, and sure, if you combine these elements and conditions together, life is bound to happen. With more than 400 billion stars in this galaxy alone, and it's not even a very big galaxy as far as galaxies go, it seems arrogant to say that we're alone in this universe. If just 0.25% of the stars in this galaxy are anything like our sun, our solar system (that's still 1 billion stars) , the odds of intelligent life on other planets is almost a certainty.

A funny thing about gifts, though. They're everywhere if you take a moment to look around. And once you start to notice the gifts in life, it's hard to stop. Then they just keep coming.

Slogan by @tecnosgirl

Other articles you might enjoy by @digitalfirehose:
Plan B for Humanity

A basic guaranteed income in the context of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

A sort of political movie review: Star Wars: Rogue One

Happiness isn't getting everything you want - happiness is a skill

The opposite of love is not hate, it is apathy

Fate, impunity and altruism