My Lucky Day

For a long time, I’ve been fascinated by all the things in the past that led to my birth.  This wondering was particularly strong when I visited Ireland where most of my ancestors originated. But this passage from Forest Church says it so much better than I can.

For us to be here in the first place, for us to earn the privilege of dying, more than a billion accidents took place. All our ancestors lived to puberty, coupled, and gave birth. Not just our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.  Take it all the way back to the beginning, beyond the first Homo sapiens back to the ur-paramecium. Even the one in a million sperm’s connection with the equally unique egg is nothing compared to everything else that happened from the beginning of time until now to make it possible for us to be here.

What does this mean? Astoundingly, unbelievably, it means that we have been in utero from the beginning of the creation. We can trace ourselves back, genetically, to the very beginning of time. The universe was pregnant with us when it was born.  What a luxury we enjoy, wondering what will happen after we die…

(Hat tip to Don Wheeler.  This came from his blog.  I’m not sure of the Forest Chuch original source.)