Below the Surface

Breath, blood, body heat pulsing through the encapsulated system of "the body,"

driven by minute sparks of energy that motivate the form through its life-sustaining

actions.

Chemical and electrical interactions transform other living matter into the nectar of

life fueling the fire within.

From the first breath of a baby which invigorates its tiny body, mixing essential

ingredients with other substances flowing through the filigreed network of

capillaries, veins, and arteries, to and through the heart, with electrical impulses

activating the flow; to the final exhale of breath as each system withdraws its

support of the network, the spark has no fuel, the heat dissipates leaving the shell,

the vessel that carried life, still and cold.

Where does the soul reside in such a complex system of the physical realm?

Thousands of years of questioning have given many different answers, but none

clear and agreed to by all. Many questioners find no need of a soul to explain the

animating force. Many scientists who have studied the soul through scientific

methods have found no proof of such an entity, and although science has been

valuable in many areas, humans continue the quest for insight into the existence

and nature of the soul.

Amazingly the system within the baby is mirrored in the greater system as elements

swirl, sparks ignite, matter is transformed, enormous clouds of matter are tossed

and catapulted into billowing, tumultuous formations of energy. Roiling and

competitive systems vie for material to become giant spiral nebulae or new stars

and galaxies, or to annihilate each other, gobbling their own, or even retracting

inward into a black hole, the ultimate mystery.

The soul is a construct of human musings, religious and philosophical and

creative. Survival of the shell, the vessel, motivates all life but some will give their

last away while some will take all of everyone else's.

How does a mutation take place in a soul so the drive to destruction takes over,

one damaged soul contaminates the pool and brings great pain and suffering to

otherwise co-existing souls?

Other souls will gather to restore the balance, will bring the forces necessary to

make sure the deranged elements are revealed for what they are and confronted.

The urge for life presses forward, the sparks of life find new fuel and create new

contexts.

Charmaine Locke lives and works in Carbondale, Colorado and Splendora, Texas.