Until recently, I was pretty sure the only people you could rely on for deep info about the world were old dudes with white beards and big black sombreros. The sort of guys that read big Aramaic books, look stern as they wag their fingers, and talk about cosmic concepts and miraculous mysteries.
Well, I have some news for them, and I hope they can handle it. I've just discovered a new source of deep, super-cool information. The kind that will blow your mind. Who could these people be, to compete with our geniuses, our shiny pedestals of wisdom?
It may surprise you that the people I am talking about do not stand ten feet tall or wear black hats that fill the room. No, these people are, in fact, quite tiny. Little guys and gals with itty bitty voices.
I am speaking, of course, of children. The same ones who run around screaming when you're trying to take a nap, or who start talking about kitty litter when you're trying to teach them the ABC's. That's right. Them.
My realization came after having a conversation with a first grader today. He was telling me that cactuses have water in them (useful information in the right situation). I asked him what else had water. Apparently, trees in the Amazon retain water as well.
And then he said that trees also have paper in them.
I'll be honest. At first I was a bit puzzled by this statement. I mean, I know that trees can be turned into paper. But they don't have paper in them, last time I checked. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I almost corrected him. Can you believe that?
But then I began thinking. Maybe I was the one that needed correcting. After all, he seemed pretty sure of himself. And really excited by the idea. I don't know the last time paper excited me, unless it was green and I could buy stuff with it.
So, I thought some more. Was it really possible I had been wrong all along? When you cut down a tree, does paper fly out from inside the bark? I was pretty sure that wasn't the case.
Maybe the kid meant something else. Was it possible I had misheard him? No, he definitely meant that trees had paper in them, just like cactuses have water in them. Like it was the same thing. At this point, my head really hurt.
But as I thought about it, something became clear to me. Why were we talking about this stuff at all? Because most people wouldn't know that a cactus has water in it. Who would think a cactus, out in the desert, would have water inside it? Not me.
So maybe it was possible that trees really do have paper inside – but on a deeper level? Like, it's there, but we just need to know how to get it out? I asked him his thoughts on the matter, but he started talking about kitty litter.
As I thought about it, it made more and more sense. I mean, we say our computers have tons of information inside them, but we have to turn them on and allow the hardware to go through a bunch of processes to access the information. So, maybe on one level, our computers don't have the information. But you and me and every little kid knows that a computer does posses information. We just need to know how to extract it. Just like wood contains fire, coals contain diamonds, and water contains life.
And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this stuff could apply to you and me. I mean, don't we say everyone has thoughts? But if you ask some guy in a white coat if that's true, he'll tell you that we don't have thoughts, but nerves inside gray stuff in our skulls that shoot electricity around. This is part of the reason I've stopped listening to guys in white coats.
And there are plenty of people, dressed in all kinds of clothes, who would like you to believe that your essence is just a big bag of bones. They think that you – magnificent, wonderful, amazing you – are just a bunch of atoms and chemical reactions.
Sure, maybe they're right, from a certain perspective. But in a deeper, truer way of thinking, the kind of thinking only a first grader could come up with, our bodies, just like computers and fossils and wood, are really tools to reach something much truer, to unveil their ultimate purpose.
So, that bag of bones has something much more hidden within it. It has you. And you are that something waiting to come out, waiting to be revealed. No matter whether you wear a black hat or a baseball cap, or if you're big or tiny. Just like the rough bark of a tree hides paper inside, your 248 limbs and 365 sinews are really just waiting to expose the true you beneath.
All you have to do is find the power button, rub two sticks together, and press that coal until a diamond comes out.
