Looking back... way back

There are times I almost think
I am not sure of what I absolutely know.
Very often find confusion
In conclusion I concluded long ago
In my head are many facts That,
as a student, I have studied to procure,
In my head are many facts..
Of which I wish I was more certain I was sure!

It is a puzzlement.
["A Puzzlement" from "The King and I"]


Everything in life is a puzzle. A strong statement, you say? But it's true. When we're born, we presumably know nothing at all about the world around us. I say "presumably" because I just do not remember those early days and years. It might be a matter of information overload.

I don't think we are really "blank slates" when we're born but that's an adequate description. Before we're born, we can feel. We react to sounds so we probably can hear. We might be able to see but what's to see? Our world is muffled, warm, and comfortable. And then we are born in violence. All at once we are assaulted by loud noise, bright light, and cold. We are grabbed, held, moved around in ways we have not experienced before.

And it doesn't stop. Large things pick us up, make noises at us, and we can't really see them in any detail. Yet we seem to know at least one of these things, we seem to be more comfortable with one of them almost right away. In the womb, we could hear and we probably would recognize the voices of our mothers in some way; it would seem familiar, maybe different since it is no longer muffled but still recognizable. Among all the cacaphony, hers would stand out. A comforting feeling might come over us. It will be another month before our eyes work well enough to focus properly and begin to recognize shapes as meaningful. Life is literally a blur colors, noise, and movement.

We are constantly absorbing knowledge during the first year after being born. Can you imagine how chaotic that must seem? And, out of that chaos, we begin to form our understanding of what it means to be alive.

We are constantly puzzled from the moment we're born. We try throughout our lives to make some sense of it. We seek answers to questions, we even seek the questions.

Yes, life is a puzzle. One we never really solve.