Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur. A seemingly random assortment of elements that followed laws of nature that we have yet to fully comprehend, and by doing so, came to life. Look at yourself in the mirror and know that you are composed of elements that were formed in exploding stars and sent soaring through outer space. Now they have come to reside in you, a living being with an inner space.
It wasn't that long ago--a few hundred years--that European philosophers believed the most fundamental elements were earth, air, water, and fire. Classical Chinese philosophy included those four, plus metal, to make five basic elements. In John McPhee's 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Annals of the Former World, the author mentioned there were 92 naturally occurring elements (with uranium at 92). That number has since increased to 98 (with californium at 98). The other 20 listed on the periodic table of the elements have been created by scientists but have not been found in nature.
Elementals is another name for nature spirits, but I like to think we're all elementals, tracing our lineage to a moment when time itself mysteriously began almost 14 billion years ago.
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