Breathing

Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat.

What is the first thing a child must do to survive?

-Breathe in.

What is the very last thing someone does before dying?

-Take their last breath.

Breath.

It's a theme that has been repeating itself for me with every philosopher I have encountered this semester and Irigaray makes no exception to this. Breath is what connects us to life on this earth. The air we breathe is vital to our well being. That's why we talk about pollutants in the air or the alarming levels of ozone and carbon dioxide in the air, because it's vital to our survival. But breathing and the air we breathe has come to be almost a philosophy of my own.

The air that surrounds us has more meaning than just merely giving us life-it connects us. It connects you to me, Buddha to the flower he leans over and inhales the scent of, priests to incense burning, lovers lying next to each other in a bed, enemies in the heat of battle, you to a past love one who's perfume still hangs in the air of her bedroom. Air is a part of the relationships we build, form and connect with, whether they be good, bad or indifferent. Air is a life giving quality and a connector. Rob Bell in a Nooma video even explains how air connects us to the Divine. Irigaray also writes on this connection of air to the divine or even other dimensions. In her conversation with Michael Stone on "'Oneness' and 'Being-Two' in the Practice and Culture of Yoga" they discuss the importance of breathing in yoga. They take it past just the health benefits and the individual level of the literal air that is focused on being brought into the body and pushed out of the body. Irigaray and Stone talk about the air and breathing as expanding one's space in which to think and to meditate. Think about it. If one concentrates on air and air within this bubble we call the atmosphere fills every crack it can and touches/surrounds everything within this bubble is that not a lot of space one can think in? It also brings back the thoughts on connection. If air touches everything and it is vital to us all, does that not in some way connect my oneness to another oneness sitting half-way across the world, someone I've never met and probably never will within the over six billion people that fill this earth? In that matter does it not connect me, at least indirectly to each of those six billion people and let's not forget the other living things on this planet, animals, insects, plants, all breathing the same air that I do? And if it's all connected at least in a small way, then how should I think of that which is other than me? Should I not care for it? Now I'm not saying everyone should be vegan because vegetables and animals are living, but shouldn't I at least have some level of care and even respect for it all? I think Wendall Berry would agree, let's support the small farmers. All this said, the answer I would say to all the questions I just asked is yes. It's something to think about, ponder for a bit.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat.