This morning marked the survival of some of “my” constituent cells for three deca-Earth’s-orbital-cycles-around-the-Sun. Only a few cells have subsisted for more, while most have existed for less.

So what’s the big deal, you ask? Good question; not much for now… No deep reflections of the present… No genuine regrets of the past… And no serious considerations of the future… Nothing! (I must say; your timing is very arbitrary anyway…)

And I’ve developed some scar-tissue… and some memories of good fortune, physically manifested as electric charge… so what? What if I shed them all; in a process of rejuvination? What would remain of “me”? Who would “I” be? Some surviving cells in a cerebral cortex? And when “I” look in the mirror, what do “I” see? The same crisis you think you see? How shallow, and how vain.

Hand “me” a cigarette and a drink, and let “me” go out on the balcony to be by “myself” for now.

Later, however, I shall be listening repeatedly to surat al-raa’d [Quran 13:*] — savoring
سَوَاء مِّنكُم مَّنْ أَسَرَّ الْقَوْلَ وَمَن جَهَرَ بِهِ وَمَنْ هُوَ مُسْتَخْفٍ بِاللَّيْلِ وَسَارِبٌ بِالنَّهَارِ#
لَهُ مُعَقِّبَاتٌ مِّن بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِ يَحْفَظُونَهُ مِنْ أَمْرِ اللّهِ إِنَّ اللّهَ لاَ يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّى يُغَيِّرُواْ مَا بِأَنْفُسِهِمْ وَإِذَا أَرَادَ اللّهُ بِقَوْمٍ سُوءًا فَلاَ مَرَدَّ لَهُ وَمَا لَهُم مِّن دُونِهِ مِن وَالٍ
[Quran 13:10-11] —
for, after all, it is in it that it is set that [Quran 13:28] أَلاَ بِذِكْرِ اللّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبُ

As for you; take what you take of this, leave what you leave of it, and leave what you leave on it.

أَنزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاء مَاء فَسَالَتْ أَوْدِيَةٌ بِقَدَرِهَا فَاحْتَمَلَ السَّيْلُ زَبَدًا رَّابِيًا وَمِمَّا يُوقِدُونَ عَلَيْهِ فِي النَّارِ ابْتِغَاء حِلْيَةٍ أَوْ مَتَاعٍ زَبَدٌ مِّثْلُهُ كَذَلِكَ يَضْرِبُ اللّهُ الْحَقَّ وَالْبَاطِلَ فَأَمَّا الزَّبَدُ فَيَذْهَبُ جُفَاء وَأَمَّا مَا يَنفَعُ النَّاسَ فَيَمْكُثُ فِي الأَرْضِ كَذَلِكَ يَضْرِبُ اللّهُ الأَمْثَالَ
[Quran 13:17]