Imagine you have this object in front of you.
Please now tell me what this is.
Most probable answers : "A bench".
Other possibilities : "A thing", "a piece of wood", "a chair"...
Still other possibilities : "I don't care", "Wtf ?", "No idea".
Let's just say it is a regular bench.
Regular ? Are you sure ?
Let's just take a closer look :
What are its dimensions ?
How many pieces is it made of ? What are the dimensions of each parts ? How are those different parts connected ?
What about its colour ? Are there several colors ? How many ? How are those colours related ? Are these colors entangled : as independant blocks ? are they merging ? Where exactly ?
How does it smell ? Is it a strong or subtle smelling ? Is it only one smelling or several one ? Is the smelling pleasant/unpleasant ? Does the smelling last or are there "flashes"/bursts of smellings ? How far can the smelling be smelt ?
What about its touching.
Is it warm / cold, rough / smooth ? Does it feel dry or wet ? Is the touch feeling the same everywhere ? on the upper part, at the bottom, on one of its leg? Is it heavy / lightweight ? Is it movable, stuck on the floor ?
What is this bench made of ?
Wood ? Which wood ? Where does the wood come from ? Who cut it ? Who transported it ? Who made this bench ? With what tools ? How fast ? How many people participated ? How did those people feel when they made this bench ? Where they doing it passionately ? Routinely ? In a hurry ? Where they thinking about something else ? Where they angry, happy, depressed, feeling nothing ?
How was the bench stored before it was put there ? Did it stay in a big dock ? Was it covered by a tissue, a plastic film, carton ? How long ? Did it have light on it ?
Did an animal climb on it ? Touch it, scratch it, pee on it, sleep on it ? Are there microscopic cat hair on it ?
Those are just a few questions, actually I could go on forever.
My point is : when we say "This is a bench", we are making an incredible over simplification of the reality. It is not just a bench. It is a bench which has such dimensions, such colors, such smelling, such touch feeling, such history. It has been made by such people, has travelled in such places etc.
All this makes this bench unique.
This simple object is a unique, original bench. Though it looks like a simple and ordinary one.
And we could say the same for everything. Everything is unique.
This is true for a lamp, a tree, you, me, the sun, an emotion, a situation, a flower or a cat.
Everything is absolutely unique the same this bench was. Everything has a lot of unique chatateristics.
Everyone, everywhere, everytime.
Our brain just can't apprehend the whole reality altogether. It is forced to drastically simplify things. And the sad thing is that we usually believe this over-simplification to be the reality, though it is not. The reality has much more depth, infinite layers.
Sometimes we think we are in an empty room though we are surrounded by a rich reality. We just don't see it anymore.
And it is not finished :)
This bench is unique. Ok.
But even more : it is always changing. Even if it sits in the same place during years.
It is standing on the planet Earth which is always rotating around its own axe and moving around the sun which also itself moving in an expanding galaxy of an expanding universe. So this bench has never and will never be in the same place in the universe ever.
Also, a lot of things changes constantly in this bench. For example the wood it is made of constantly ages, its shapes moves, its color changes depending on the light, the air, the hygrometry. All this changes constantly at sometimes imperceptible levels of course, but it does change.
Isn't that amazing ? We think we always see the same old simple bench every day. And yet it happens to be an absolutely unique object that will never be in the same place in the universe.
Same for everything.
People, situations, feelings.
Everything.
Just wow.