How many of us believe in miracles? Don’t worry, it’s not
going to be a teenage girl’s journal entry. So, how many of us believe in
miracles? I guess most of us do, or have started to. The world around us has
changed quite dramatically (for the better or worse, depending on perspective)
which isn’t so short of a miracle. But how many of us just can’t stop
experiencing them every moment? A lot of hands have gone down, haven’t they?
(Sorry, I write as if I am speaking to a live audience).
Well, let me tell you, miracles happen every moment. The
degree of impact may vary but they do happen. I’m going to give you two
examples here of “actual” miracles and then explain how these happen all the
time.
Example 1: It’s the peak morning time and as usual I’m
waiting for my train at one of the railway stations of Mumbai. The train
arrives and before it can halt, people have started jumping in. Now, I am not
new to this Sparta like phenomenon and hence I try to get in too. But I’m
pushed aside, so hard, that I fall on the platform. I get back up and with the
same resolve, I get inside the train and guess what, find myself a seat. A true
miracle, any Mumbaikar would say.
Example 2: I and my flatmate have rented a new house in
Mumbai. The owner asks us to meet him at short notice. Due to his insistence we
leave early from office only to wait for him for 2 hours at the meeting point.
He arrives with a list of questions (literally) and the viva begins. From his
questions it’s clear that he thinks of us no less than a bunch of underground
gangsta rappers. His broker brings up a clause to be included in the rent
agreement which I and my flatmate are not comfortable with, but will doubly
protect the interests of the owner. He asks his broker to not force the clause
on us. A miracle!
Now, these 2 incidents may seem like a miracle because as
laymen, we understand miracles to be unexpected welcome events which do not
happen all the time. Well, by that definition, isn’t the non-occurrence of
certain events which do not happen all the time, miracles too? Non-occurrence
of earthquakes or other natural calamities? Non-occurrence of a terrorist
attack at some place? These do not happen all the time and their non-occurrence
causes a welcome event. Imagine your flight is about to land and there’s an
earthquake on the runway. This is not a miracle, it’s an unfortunate event. But
the non-occurrence of such an event would cause a welcome event of a smooth
landing. But yet, we don’t call a smooth landing a miracle either. That’s
because, we give far too much importance to rarely occurring welcome events as
compared to others. The significance of common welcome events is so less that
we’re not even aware of them. Isn’t it a miracle that you’re breathing right
now? You’re not aware of it, you’re not even trying, but you are alive. Isn’t
it a miracle that your dog, who’s probably stronger and more agile than you, is
your loyal friend and not a predator who can eat you when you’re sleeping? Yes,
dogs are programmed that way by nature (and genetic engineering) but aren’t all
miracles? Isn’t it a miracle that the human race is still going strong, after
two world wars and so many others? Isn’t it a miracle how Earth has all the
life supporting elements in the exact right amounts? Isn’t it a miracle that
you’re on the beach and there’s no tsunami? Isn’t it a miracle that your
breathing doesn’t suddenly stop? Or despite all the terrorism, which has been
occurring since decades, you’re feeling safe right now?
We’ve never acknowledged these things, have we? Why? Because
we take the present for granted, despite it being a very serious thing, the
only true thing. We’re obsessed with the future. It takes a major event, a jolt
perhaps, to make us realise the importance of the present. The present is the
only moment we have all the control over. We’re losing control every moment and
we don’t know if we’ll still have it in the next. But in the present moment, we
are completely in control. It’s not bad to plan for the future, but to live in
it, that’s terrible. That’s like Virat Kohli worrying about the ICC 2019 World
Cup because he may have to lead the
Indian Cricket team then. One doesn’t make 24 international hundreds in 161
innings worrying like that. Even this is a miracle.
To conclude, miracles are happening every moment because
every moment is happening for us. There would be no miracle if we were dead.
Being alive is a miracle itself with all the wars, terrorism, diseases, stress
and so much more. The only way to witness miracles every moment is to live every moment. Mere acknowledgement
of every moment will surely cause a miracle, because miracles don’t happen once
in a while, they happen when you look for them, just like the electron in the
double slit experiment. Sorry, getting off topic here. So, the surest way to
witness miracles every moment is to acknowledge every moment by being in the
present.
