Where do we find the beginning of your life or any life? Birth? Conception? Adulthood? Your job? Place? History? Ancestry? The Garden of Eden? Protoplasm? The big bang?
It really doesn't matter what you believe about the origins of life because there's a single fact that unites us: it is a mystery. The fact that we're here at all is a total, mind-boggling mystery. No matter how far back you can imagine, the arrow of time continues infinitely. Before everything that exists today, there was a Something that no one really understands. Many people call it God or Spirit. Theologians and religious leaders fumble with metaphors and poetry to convey the extraordinary enigma that is God, the Creator of all things. This great mystery we come from is also called Emptiness, Energy, or Consciousness. There are literally thousands of religious, scientific, and cultural terms for the Source and Force of all that is, and each is just as limited as the next.
The world of science is no further ahead than the world of spirituality in explaining it all. Not only are we still hypothesizing whether the big bang theory really adds up, but we don't really understand what exactly preceded that precious moment and where it all came from. The human mind can't fully grasp the notion of eternity or infinity. Something without end or beginning cannot be thought of at all. At best, the source of all life -- the source of you -- is glimpsed through feelings and fleeting experiences.
If you haven't thought much about the vastness of life, you can still experience it. Take the time to go out at night and look at the stars. Find a safe place where you can see them clearly -- try your backyard, a park, a large unlit parking lot, or a weekend camping trip. Guess how many stars you see and how far into the distance they go. Then remember one thing: no matter how far you imagine, space goes even farther. No matter how long you think they've been in existence, they've been there long, long before. The stars will wake you up to a glimpse of eternity, and that is where we come from. It's a miracle.
The mysterious potential that turned itself into everything is the Source and Force behind all, and it's still at work. That energy, power, and potential never went away. It's here right now -- in the ground beneath you, and in the air you're breathing. It is in you. You can never escape it -- you're embraced by the miracle. Any way you look at it, you are a miracle, too.
This post is adapted from my book Inspirational Deficit Disorder.