[Chibi Creative Award] Two Miracles [Nature]
Every morning, I leave the house at the same time.
I walk along my usual commute, pass by the usual park, casually tread on the soil beneath my feet, and squint at the blue of the sky I suddenly look up at.
We usually think of scenery like this asnature that was there from the beginningwithout a second thought. It is an obvious background that was there yesterday and should be there tomorrow.
However, if we rewind time just a little and peek into the depths of this scenery, a completely different world comes into view.
This scenery we are looking at so casually right now.
In fact, it is the result of a grand renovation that has been literally reshaped by the countless 'activities of life' that once lived on Earth over an unimaginably long period of billions of years.
Chapter 1: 'Nature' Reshaped by Life
The 'blue sky' before our eyes now, and the 'black soil' that nurtures plants as if it were only natural, did not exist on Earth in the past. When this planet was first born, the world was covered in toxic gases, and the surface was a desolate place full of exposed, cold rock.
What changed that were the invisible, tiny original inhabitants.
Billions of years ago, microorganisms called 'cyanobacteria' appeared in the ocean. They bathed in the sunlight and began the first photosynthesis on Earth. The oxygen they kept exhaling for hundreds of millions, even billions of years, filled the once-toxic atmosphere and eventually painted the Earth's sky a vibrant blue. Without them, 'breathing creatures,' including humans, could never have been born on this planet.
And the 'soil' beneath our feet is also a crystal of the miracle brought about by life.
In fact, as far as we know, Earth is the only planet in the universe that has 'soil.' What is on the Moon or Mars is merely 'sand and dust (regolith)' created by meteorites hitting and crushing rocks into fine pieces. The soft 'soil' that grows plants and nurtures diverse life is something that is finally created only after hundreds of millions of years of mixing rock dust with the remains of living things and the decomposition activities of microorganisms.
Life transformed the Earth, which was once just a cold lump of rock, into a rich land overflowing with life by repeating its own cycle of life and death.
The soil we are treading on now is not just the ground. It is the grand 'memory' itself, left behind by all the life that has lived in the past.
Chapter 2: 'Nature' Woven by the Universe and Celestial Bodies
However, the story does not end here. Even before life reshaped the Earth, how were the 'materials' that form life, and the non-living thing called 'Earth' that served as the stage, born in the first place?
To find the answer, we must rewind time by several more billions of years and shift our perspective to the pitch-black universe.
When the universe first began, only very light elements like hydrogen and helium existed. Carbon and nitrogen that make up our bodies, calcium that builds our bones, and iron that creates the redness of our blood. Complex substances like these did not exist in the universe at that time.
What created them was 'celestial movement' accompanied by vast amounts of time, enormous power, and overwhelming heat.
When the giant stars born in the universe end their long lives, they cause unimaginable explosions (supernova explosions). That tremendous heat and pressure forged new elements inside the stars and scattered them violently to the far reaches of the universe.
The iron and calcium in our bodies are 'stardust' itself, born when stars somewhere in the universe burned out their lives.
Thus, the matter drifting in space gathered, and about 4.6 billion years ago, the solar system began to take shape.
On the primitive Earth, which had not yet fully formed, countless meteorites collided at tremendous speeds, and the surface became a sea of molten magma. Amidst the puzzle of raging heat and gravity, Earth succeeded in maintaining an exquisite size and a miraculous distance from the sun.
Without the intense movement of celestial bodies and the overlap of immense energy, the stage of Earth, and the materials to harbor life upon it, would never have been born into this world.
Non-living things. They are by no means cold, stationary existences. The memories of the intense heat and power that the universe once experienced exist there in a transformed state.
Conclusion: We who stand at the cutting edge of two miracles
The memory of the immense heat and power brought about by the dynamic celestial movements of the universe. And, on that foundation, the history of life that has been connected without interruption for billions of years.
Non-living things essentially exist only by following the laws of physics, eventually breaking down and changing shape; sunlight, the blowing wind, and rocks do not have intentions or purposes. The universe is simply there, calmly.
Life was born into such a universe. It was not because there was a special reason, nor did the universe seek life.
It was just that 'things that try to live' appeared among the conditions that happened to align.
Feeling light, seeking sustenance, and heading toward places easier to live—such small actions were the beginning of a long history that would eventually reshape the entire Earth.
However, that world of 'just being there' was by no means an easy place for life to live. Intense light, dry rocks, toxic atmosphere. To live within that, life utilized its surroundings and gradually reshaped both itself and the environment.
Using light as sustenance, storing water, crushing rocks, and nurturing soil.
Life simply took what was there, combined it, changed it, and eventually built a world for itself to live in.
The materials the universe created by chance and the activities life has accumulated. These two overlap to form the world we call 'nature'.
The everyday scenery we look at casually is the newest form created by the overlap of the 'physical world that just exists' and the 'meaning and form given by life'.
Now, the iron in the blood circulating through my body is 'stardust' born when a star exploded somewhere in the universe long ago, and the air I inhaled was spun out by microorganisms in the ancient seas to survive, and created by plants as they changed their forms. The soil under my feet is the very memory of countless lives that lived and returned.
13.8 billion years of cosmic memory and 4 billion years of life's activities. We are at the very 'cutting edge' of that staggering amount of time.
Tomorrow, when I walk my usual commute again, the scenery reflected in my eyes will surely look a little different.
Because endless time flows through the green of the street trees and the blueness of the sky I look up at, making everything in the world feel precious.