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ArtistA highly detailed black-and-white pen-and-ink engraving in the style of a 19th-century philosophical illustration and underground comic. The composition depicts the full cycle of human life, from infancy to old age and death, arranged as a radiant procession ascending and descending along a luminous arc of consciousness. Every figure shares the same distinctive face: a bald, melancholy man with large thoughtful eyes, a long nose, and a contemplative expression. At the center stands the idealized adult form, strong and dignified, wearing a classical draped cloth around his waist, a starburst of light emanating from his chest. Surrounding him are successive incarnations of the same individual: newborn infant lying among flowers, crawling baby, toddler, playful child with hoop, boy with staff, adolescent holding a sphere, young scholar carrying a book, mature man, aging philosopher, stooped elder, and skeletal remains dissolving into the earth. Each stage retains the recognizable facial structure of the same person, adapted to the proportions of each age. Brilliant points of light glow at the heart of every figure, connected by shimmering arcs of energy symbolizing the continuity of consciousness through time. In the background, ghostly elders and skeletons gather near the edge of the landscape, suggesting mortality and reincarnation. The ground is richly textured with grass and small flowers. Above, a large white full moon illuminates the scene. Dense crosshatching, stippling, and intricate line work create a timeless, mystical atmosphere inspired by sacred diagrams, vanitas imagery, and the Bhavachakra, the Buddhist Wheel of Life. Vertical 4:5 composition, ultra-high resolution, exquisite anatomical draftsmanship, symbolic and contemplative.
Yes, I have been talking about reincarnation all along. It is something I think about often. At one point, I imagined all the countless lives I might have lived and all the bodies I might have inhabited. I tried to calculate how many bones would have accumulated if I had been reborn again and again throughout the history of this universe. The result was a vast beach of bones, enough to cover the entire West Coast.
But then the thought expands even further. What if the universe itself is reborn endlessly? What if not only people reincarnate, but the entire cosmos undergoes cycles of birth, dissolution, and renewal?
I believe that life pervades everything. There is a universal life force, a consciousness that manifests in all beings. Some call it the astral light. Some call it Shiva—the god who does not need to incarnate because he is already present in every form and every moment.
Yet when I examine the idea carefully and with some discrimination, I realize that, on a practical level, I am not especially attracted to reincarnation. My main reason is simple: I do not want to be a child again. I do not want to be born helpless, subjected to a particular culture and family, small enough to be picked up and carried about without any say in my own life. I do not want to pass once more through the long process of developing enough understanding to live independently.
So what is this life really about?
I come from a school of thought that teaches that everyone is already enlightened. There is nowhere else to go and nothing new to attain. We are already what we seek. We have already reached the ultimate truth this universe can reveal.
The problem is not that enlightenment is absent. The problem is that we are unaware of it, and this ignorance shapes how we treat one another.
For this reason, I do not long for reincarnation. To me, it seems like another cycle of suffering.
My deepest aspiration is different: to be absorbed into absolute consciousness, to dissolve back into the primordial source from which all things arise—an infinite, all-pervasive reality that exists beyond time and space.
