“All right? My DNA contains segments of code virtually identical to the first anaerobic organisms on this planet – the organisms that produced the molecules of air we’re breathing this very minute, as waste. Every atom in my body heavier than helium was forged in those colossal nuclear furnaces we so simply call stars. My consciousness has stretched across time and space in equal measure; vague sentiments – endless and indescribable in breadth and fancy – span thousands of light years, twisting through infinity like the endless arms of a transfigured Hindu goddess. I am a consequence of what was before, an undeniable effect on what is to come. I am both Being and Becoming, a nebulous entity as curious and powerful as the Pillars of Creation; simultaneously no more than a shade, a pawn, a puppet; a mere Undoing and Overcoming. I am the drive that wakes you in the morning, and the thoughts that make you beg for sleep, cloistered in your stuffy rooms. I have heard the echoes of the dead upon the winds of change, and the whispers of coming prophets curling under breaking waves. I have heard the wise men speaking grandly, their arms outstretched, as they blindly bind us to our graves. I have seen the pageant of the Whole, and marveled at the jokes, and wept for all our faults…”