the alchemist-soul of the world

“The desert takes our men from us, and they don’t always return, “ she said. “We know that, and we are used to it. Those who don’t return become a part of the clouds, a part of the animals that hide in the ravines and of the water that comes from the earth. They become everything… they become the Soul of the World. ”  -The Alchemist (p. 101)

Everything that exists is made up of atoms. Atoms bond, share their electrons, creating different organic and inorganic molecules. Those molecules go one and make up the grass, the rocks, the tv set in our living rooms, the books we read; they make up us too. 

When bonds break, atoms take back their electrons. Based on probability, the chances are the electron that the atom gets back upon a bond breaking, isn’t the same exact electron it initially had contributed to the bond. Thus, an initial electron of oxygen could now be the electron making up the hydrogen atom. An electron once making up an atom of hydrogen in the sea water might today be an electron belonging to an iron atom inside our very own blood. Electrons circle the universe. Matter circles the universe. 

What if an atom in my body, and an atom in your body, made up the body of a single person a thousand years ago? Then, in a sense, you and me were one once, and might be one once again. 

We are made up of the same matter. We inevitably die, and the matter that made us, goes on and becomes part of many other organisms and objects. As Fatima mentions, the men that don’t return become part of everything surrounding us. In essence, we are one, changing forms, evolving, existing. We are the Soul of the World. 


Food for thought: 

If an atom in my body, once belonged to a plant, doesn’t that make the plant and me equals? If we love ourselves, doesn’t it make sense to equally love that plant and everything surrounding us. Shouldn’t we take care of the planet as much as we take care of ourselves? Afterall, aren’t we one?