The ripple of a wave can be calculated by a falling pebble. The crashing of a meteor on a planet can be determined to the second. The temperature of a star in a distant galaxy can be known by its color. There is a solid answer for everything.
But can we agree on something as immaterial as an experience?
I once clumsily misplaced a container of pancake syrup back to its shelf before dashing out the door for work. Missing the ledge, the plastic vessel bounced onto the kitchen floor, squirting the sticky liquid upward onto my pants. It was quite funny to me, knowing that I had to make a quick change and wondering how I would explain my tardiness. To my wife, however, the event was avoidable and non-amusing as she grabbed a cloth to wipe the thick ooze from the tile.
Did two things happen? Can two people really agree on anything?
Is it possible for anyone to even share the same experience? In any circumstance, if several people are asked to write a sentence of what happens, how many different answers will we receive?
Should we be quick to believe anything in history? What is the single cause for conflict? Can one sentence explain why any war is fought?
I believe every conscious being lives inside the sphere of his or her own reality. If that is true, how precious is it when we see eye to eye for even a brief second. How wonderful when we simultaneously stand under the shade of the same umbrella, when our bubbles briefly conjoin into a single bubble before popping, or when we become like two water droplets that combine into a single droplet before evaporating.
Welcome to my universe. I will not expect you to laugh every time I laugh or cry every time I cry. But for those brief encounters that we will share in unison, let’s say, “I am happy to experience this with you.”