We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one.

I watched the patient's personality fade as the doctor administered the first dose of anesthesia. Taking its place was the grotesque yet beautiful nature of the human body, characterized by the chest rising and falling as the lungs gasped for air, eyes wide open but consciousness absent, tissue being cut away with surgical instruments, and bone being reduced by the drill. Our team of one surgeon and two assistants relentlessly worked to ensure a successful procedure while maintaining the stability of the patient's vitals tracked by blood pressure cuffs, EKG machines, and oxygen monitors. “Could this be the meaning of Confucius' quote?” I thought to myself as I handed the doctor the scalpel to begin the operation.

Our first life is what determines how we experience this reality. If you look at a tree, you only know it’s a tree because of your first life, which is what goes on inside your mind. We only call a tree by its name because as a collective society, we agreed that this is what it will be called. God’s greatest gift to humans was making life meaningless because then we can prescribe our own meaning to things, which makes us super. The way your mind works will determine how you will work and fit into society.

If you drop a glass and it shatters, the glass drops and shatters in your second life. Your first life determines how you experience that glass shattering. You can think to yourself, “Why do bad things always happen to me? I’m so angry I have to clean this up,” or you can think, “Maybe this is the universe’s way of saving me from something in the future.” Either way, it’s up to you to ascribe meaning to the things that happen to you.

Your first life contains everything that makes you unique: your likes and dislikes, ego, personality, and habits—essentially the things that determine who you are and how you act in your second life. Your first life isn’t bound by time, this is where God places dreams. All the dreams that you want in your life start in your mind; it’s in your head that you already know what you want to be. Kids talk about their aspiring careers at a young age because inside their heads they can already see themselves being fulfilled in something so much bigger than themselves. A child says they want to be a doctor in elementary school, yet doesn’t receive their certification until they’ve graduated from medical school. However, they wouldn’t have been able to accomplish this if the dream didn’t start when they couldn’t see it.

Our second life is the one bound by time—our bodies. This is the life that emerges when sedated with anesthesia. In this life, we experience delays to our dreams, uncertainty, and pain. We get older every single day; each second ticking away only brings us closer to our death. In the Bible, God said, “Walk by faith, not by sight,” because what you see isn’t the full picture. God appreciates struggle because it builds character, and in the end, when He fulfills your biggest dream, you’ll give Him all the glory. This will then inspire the next person to seek out the divinity within them and allow them to achieve their dreams, which will eventually inspire someone else, and the cycle continues.

Separation is an illusion; one is all, and all is one. This game called life was gifted to us by a divine source. After all, it's only as a human being that you can do amazing things such as find fulfillment in your work, have your heart touched by music, write a book, and so much more. Your dreams don’t require superhuman strength; rather, they require the realization that being human is super. Our first life can be understood by our exhalation; it’s the giving of CO2 to the universe. Our second life can be understood by our inhalation; it’s the receiving of oxygen into our bodies. Your life started with an inhalation, signifying God giving you the gift of life and you receiving that blessing. Life is all about giving and receiving; one cannot function without the other. Give quality time in the gym and you’ll receive results; give a woman the seed of life and you’ll receive a child; give God your life and you’ll experience oneness with your dreams.

Our bodies tell us that we live individual lives; however, our spirit tells us we are all connected. Every single human being on this planet inhales and exhales. We are bound to the laws of this universe: giving and receiving, pain and beauty, love and loss. Yet it’s these very things that make being human super—the ability to turn pain into beauty, loss into love, and grieving into happiness. Times of despair call for us to rely on our first life, because that is where you’ll find God to guide you through your problems and into the field of paradise He’s planned for you.

Divine utilitarianism encompasses our first lives because it’s through the observation of ourselves that God can make us and others better. We all exist for one another; doctors cannot exist without patients, musicians cannot exist without fans, and authors cannot exist without readers. That passion that pushes you closer to your dreams every day is the collective energy of all the people that you will help in the future, pulling you closer to your dreams.

Understand that you can create your own heaven on Earth; you just need to match its vibration. It’s the very vibration that makes up the fabric of this reality and the same one that has allowed your heart to continue beating since the day you were born. Become conscious of your divinity, show gratitude towards it, and chase your dreams because that is what humans were created for. If you don’t have a dream that ignites passion within you, it’s because you haven’t found one worth your time and attention. Find one and make it your life’s mission to achieve it for the greater good of society.

As the doctor cut the final suture, I began tapping the patient's shoulder and calling their name to wake them up. What once was an unconscious body is now a highly sedated patient saying, “We’re already done?”. A patient under anesthesia versus a conscious one encompasses the meaning of the Confucious quote. Every patient who is operated on has a unique personality displayed by their energy, clothes, attitude, and more. However, as soon as the anesthesia is administered, every patient becomes the same, just a canvas provided by our creator. When patients wake up, they return to being the art that decorates that canvas. We’re all just canvases, your dream is the art.