Series 1, Episode 41: The Mysteries of Life

So much of life I take for granted

I wake each day to face the same routine

The colors often run

In shades of monotone and grey

And the days melt together

In a frivolous cliché

But occasionally, now and then

Once or twice when the moon is blue

I’ll be walking across a room

And a thought will come

From out of nowhere

So stunning

As to make me

Stop in my tracks

To consider the infinite

The mysteries of life

Theater of the Imagination is brought to you by Watchfire Music 

Transcript

Peter Link 0:07

Welcome to Scattershot Symphony, the music of Peter Link. That's me. Hey y'all, this week being the 41st episode of this podcast, I prefer to let the music do the talking. However, if you need to know more about me, please visit Wikipedia.com, Peter Link. This episode is entitled The Mysteries of Life. So much of life I take for granted. I wake each day to face the same routine. The colors often run in shades of monotone and gray, and the days melt together in a frivolous cliche. But occasionally once or twice when the moon is blue, I'll be walking cross a room or standing in a line. And a thought will come from nowhere. A thought so fascinating, unpredictable, so staggering, so startling, so stunning, staggering stunning tricks to consider the fans inexplicable to contemplate. Or perhaps better said, I was the portal through which it came. Where did it come from? Who thought it first? Why did it then spring forth from me? Of all people. Perhaps I'll never know. Perhaps it will always be a mystery. Or a blister on my foot healed all by itself. Now, whose innovation was that? I never did nothing but live another day and another, then another, and then one day, when I woke up, it was gone. It turns out this body is naturally self-healing. Perhaps I originally paid a little extra for it. Now who was wise enough to facilitate that? Certainly not me. A mystery. So much of life I take for granted. I wake each day to face the same routine. The colors often run in shades of monotone and gray, and the days melt together in a frivolous cliche. Once or twice when the moon is blue, I'll be lying in my bed. Or standing in the shell. And a thought will come from out of nowhere. A thought so unpredictable, so staggering, so startling, so stunning, as to make me stop. Stop in my track. That said, a heart beats on with nothing to prompt it. And then one day, it just stops. Now who decides that? Who said it's time to stop? Just who says it's time to be not you anymore? On second thought, an innocent child's life is taken, and a villainous man lives on. Now, what kind of justice is that? Just who's in charge here? Do the laws of ethics not dominate? Should not goodness always win out? Where is the justice here? I've heard it said that it is a denial of justice not to stretch out a helping hand to the fallen. That is the common right of humanity. The common right of humanity. Cogitate on that. It just might be time to consider the infinite inexplicable contemplate. On an entirely different subject, an adult's blood vessels, when laid end to end, could circle the earth four times. Some say two point five times. Who is right? Who is wrong? Does it really matter? The point is we are some kind of complex creatures. Them's a lot of vessels and veins. Believe it or not, that's true for every one of us. Ah the mysteries of life. Now, on the subject of wind. When did it start? Why does it come and go? Where does it go upon the ocean in a calm? Does it just stop and wait? Mr. Google says, quote, wind originates from differences in air pressure, which are primarily caused by the sun's uneven heating of the earth. End quote. So who decided that? Who told the sun to heat the earth in the first place? And who says when to do it? And where? And how to do it? Best of all, why? A mystery. And when it comes to the rain, what a wondrous invention to wash down the earth, to water the trees, to provide us with this pure nectar to drink a cycle of water from the heavens to the earth, to the brook, to the stream, to the river, to the ocean, and drawn back up to the heaven to the gas the cycle of water. What a great idea. And who was the inventor of that? So much of life I take for granted. I wake each day to face the same routine. The colors often run in shades of monotone and gray, and the days melted together in a frivolous cliche. But occasionally once or twice when the moon is blue, I'll be walking down the road or sitting on my porch. And a thought will come from out of nowhere. A thought so fascinating, unpredictable, so staggering, so startling, so stunning, as to make me stop. A mystery. And on a more serious note, why do so many men lead such wonderful and promising lives only to die in war? War? What is it for? To satisfy the ambitions of a few deranged men. Demented, selfish, unhinged, uncaring, egotistical, self-centered, foolish, ghoulish men. That a handful of misguided men can lead billions of people astray. Now that's a mystery. On the other side of the coin lies the incredible mystery of the seed. Just what is a seed? I went to the New York Botanical Garden website to find out. Their definition was most succinct. So what is a seed? The seed is the embryonic stage of the plant life cycle. Most seeds consist of three parts: embryo, endosperm, and seed coat. The embryo is a tiny plant that has a root, a stem, and one or more leaves. The endosperm is the nutritive tissue of the seed, its food, often a combination of starch, oil, and protein. The seed coat is a protective covering that can help seeds remain viable for long periods of time. Now you might say, but Peter, doesn't this definition take the mystery out of it all? Hardly. I believe that it's the process of growth that is the mystery. How does this little blip evolve into a rose? A chrysanthemum? A weed? A Christmas tree? A noble sequoia? How does it know? Does a four leaf clover know proudly that it is more valuable to the human being than its relative surrounding three leavers? Does it somehow know that it is a lucky charm? Does a rose know of its own innate qualities of romance? Does a kernel of corn know that it is delicious? Does one particular kind of seed know that it is soon to be a child? A child to a bear? A child to an eagle? A child to an elephant? Does a seed get hungry in its struggle for life? And therefore, in some way, eat the nutrients gathered around its embryo? Where did the idea come from that actually invented the seed? I ask each of you to plant a seed and watch it grow. Observe the miracle and see if you can understand how it does or what it does. We so often take these so-called simple things for granted. How fascinating that we all somehow so trust in the unknown. In the mystery of life, the word life itself is possibly the greatest mystery. Where does life start? Does it in fact end? If life is eternal, then life is the always. I'm counting on that. Okay, now back to the individual. You. And so, in all these mysteries of life, we now present our grand finale. You eat a pizza. You don't consider why, really, you're just hungry and you like pizza. You send that chewed pizza down a pipeline into your chemical processing station. And then you go on about your life. Basically, you forget about that pizza. Unless, of course, you ate too much pizza. But let's not go down that road. Now, the pizza falls down through the tube into your first processing station called your stomach. Once there, elements of the pizza are separated out and sent to various other processing divisions that can extract what the body needs from the pizza from what the body does not need. These decisions are made in-house, so to speak, without addressing you one iota. These processing divisions with funny names like liver, kidneys, and pancreas do their thing. The choices and the extractions. And then they send the residual on its way out the door. In the meantime, you have no idea what's going on down there. You take no thought to the extraction of nutrients and the adding of those nutrients into your bloodstream. It just happens. But come on, really, who's running the shop down there? It's a complex chemical laboratory in process. And for some people, hopefully you, the lab runs pretty smoothly all day long, even when you're asleep, and continues to run without upgrades for sometimes as much as a hundred years. Nobody really oversees any of this, not even you. All you have to do is make sure that the unwanted parts of the pizza get thrown away. Fact is, I don't even know what a pancreas does. Nor do I care. Nor do I want to know. I do know this, however, that down there is a miracle of organization, administration, and management. And for most of us billions, it is and always will be a mystery. So then, I'm sure that many of you throughout this podcast have been champing at the bit and wondering why I not sooner got to the following question. You must have wanted to ask at some point, where is God in all this? Certainly not down there in the liver removing toxins. By the way, just what is God? A guy in the sky who points his finger? A figment of your imagination? A punisher? A healer? A father? A mother? The Almighty? Jehovah? Jesus? Yahweh? Simply a higher power? The Prince of Peace? Your Maker? Allah? Zeus? The creator of all. All of the above. And so much more. You get to decide. You get to explore, perhaps, the greatest mystery of all. Even if you have already decided that God is not. You're still left with these mysteries. And if you believe in God, you're probably still tasked with the question of what exactly God is. I know I am. For me, God is simply beyond my imagination. I have a wondrous relationship with him, her, it. Besides, we haven't even begun to touch the mystery of why we are here, or the incredible mysteries of time and eternity, or the mysteries of outer and inner space, or the mysteries of love. In the meantime, I shall continue to consider the fashion. Many thanks to all the staff at Watchfire Music, who each play a special part in the production of these podcasts. I am supremely blessed to work with each and every one of you. Also, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. And to keep abreast of the latest episode, you can subscribe to Scattershot Symphony from your podcast app of choice. And thanks to Watchfire Music and the entire staff for all your work in producing and promoting this podcast. A very special thanks also to Stuart Barefoot, our associate producer, for all your invaluable knowledge and great vibes. And lastly, a posthumous thanks to Ludwig van Beethoven for your opening four bars. This podcast is presented with loving care by the staff at Watchfire Music. If you liked what you heard, we got lots more where that came from. In the meantime, you can find the songs you just heard on WatchfireMusic.com forward slash podcast. There, you can purchase the singles or albums and have access to all the goods. Also, there you will find all previous podcasts and future scheduling. Stay tuned.