Our experience and all experience

Imagine a list. It will be a long list because it contains the interactions between three things: every person, every place and every object. That is, the interactions between:

– All of the seven billion people plus on the planet.
– The one trillion plus square meters of the planet.
– Every object and being. Undoubtedly, in the billions, maybe the trillions.

Now imagine your life—all the people you’ve met, the places you’ve been, the things you’ve done—and answer a question: What percentage of the above list does your life tick off? The answer has a lot of zeroes, but on the right hand side of the decimal point. 

In our lives we witness only an infinitesimal fraction of all possible situations and interactions. It’s the contrast between what’s possible during our time here, and what’s possible, regardless of constraints. Between what’s possible in our life and every life. It’s the contrast between the totality of our experience, and the totality of all experience.