Breathe

The significance of breathing has always been understood. In Latin, the literal translation for breath was spiritus: the force of life, the soul, and the spirit. Breathing was, is, and will always remain the essence of life.

However, in day-to-day life the ability to breathe is so normal that it is taken for granted. It is the one thing so common that most of us forget how vitally important it is. All organisms breathe—it is the nature of existence. How can something so fascinating be so overlooked? Because our nervous system automates it and because we do it around 20,000 times per day.

Just like our internal flame starves when it is restricted of oxygen, we stop living when we stop breathing. In human and flame and all other living beings, each breath contains life, and after each breath we develop, and we rise, and we live.

"In moments of distress, do you reach for your breath or something external—and what does that reveal?"

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