Substance

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Substance

November 20th, 2011
5-minute drill

By Sandy

Substance: Oddly, varied word. It can be an abstract word, as in "Your character can be "of substance", which is a good thing. Or a noun, as in "Some people partake in an illegal substance", which can be a bad thing. Or it can be tangible, as in all matter is made up of a substance(s), which is also a scientific thing. There are towns called "Substance". There is something in my refridgerator, which is an "unknown substance". It is also considered as the subject matter of thought, discourse, study, etc. Glad we have this word, "substance". It is, evidently, a substantial part of our language!

By Michael

Substance... is ephemeral. How to keep it from evaporating away into ether? What is substance, really? Physicists don't even know for sure. What we perceive as solid objects are explained as quivering waves of energy that can be both here and on the other side of the universe at the same time, or they could be something altogether different in some alternative-parallel reality. So says the God of logic, mathematics, and science.

I know what has substance in my daily life: a walk down a leaf-strewn lane, the water reflecting the grey clouds and orange trees, a glint of snow on the mountains. The skunk tracks painted in white cross the asphalt trail, where we stop to help the old dog who has decided his walk is over. He is not lost in his own mind, even though his owners are searching worriedly for him farther up the trail.

(5 minutes ended here)

We wait, beside him, until his owners arrive, informed by the passing cyclist of his location. He grumbles, and stands reluctantly. Reunited, they go on their way. We go ours. This is substance.


By Rachael

It's not even a question worth asking. Because if you don't already know the answer, you never will. What is this thing that we feed? What is this substance that we seek? It comes in few forms, but it is easily faked. Pretty boxed knick-knacks and sparkly gems, made by someone halfway across the world, make us feel (or maybe prevent us from feeling) all that we want, what we yearn for. If you can walk among the wildflowers and fee like you won something, or have a conversation and get your soul to open just a bit, you'll never ask the question because you already know the answer. 

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