Yugen's Effect: Age 1

Life fades from black to a dim, cool, light. Her eyes strain to fight the rays of color and blurred images as we all do when roused from a deep sleep. Our eyes adjust; seeing our immediate surroundings, while our brains slowly comprehend what is going on. She looks up at the slowly rotating objects that hang before her field of view, moving ever so slightly above her head. These objects look familiar, she has seen them before, but her newly awakened mind is working to put the pieces together from her previous viewing. A few blinks to moisten her eyes and it all comes into a clear focus. A familiar sense of belonging builds as she knows where she is in space and time. Her hand extends to the heavens above as she reaches for the blue duck. Then a black-spotted cow comes into range, followed by a horse, then a chicken. 

Baby Yugen cracks a tiny smile as her colorful friends sway back and forth on the mobile above her crib. Her body wrapped in a warm onesie, and her slumber outfit completed by a blanket across her toes. She is warm and safe in her little world. However, hers is a world not just viewed through a pinhole of tunnel vision, no, she knows there is more out in the larger scope of her surroundings. Knowing that her legs and arms are strengthening day-by-day, her mind follows suit and she gives in to her curiosity and begins the process of pulling herself up. Rolling over to the cage of pristine white bars, she grabs ahold of one, then another, and meagerly starts to stand up under her own power. As her extremities act to raise her head, her eyes ascend like an elevator rising to the top of glass building presenting an ever-widening glimpse of the world outside her crib. Reaching the precipice at the top of her crib, head just barely peeking over the edge, ‘Boom!’, it hits. The world around her suddenly just got much more interesting, and most assuredly more overwhelming.

The appeal of the mobile over her crib which was once just out of arms reach has been eclipsed by the vastness of the entire room where she calls home. The colors are familiar, the shapes reminiscent of something she has seen before, but in the scale of it all, she realizes new feelings not present while laying in the confines of her comfortable crib. Her mind races from the wealth of stimuli being thrust at her. She becomes overcome with a sense of giddy awe, coupled with slight feelings of anxiety and fear. For these are not just objects in a room, for her, it is her planet, her home, her life. Perspective is everything when you’re a single grain of sand amidst a sea of dunes.  

She knows very little about her surroundings, with the naïveté adding to the sense of wonderment. When she spies the rocking chair in the corner, it does not appear as being a structure built by the hands of man; she only knows it as the vessel where her mother rocks her to sleep. The physics of motion and inertia have no place in her thoughts. Its rigid structure and ornately carved details are lost upon her; its presence only serves as a reminder of comfort and love. Fond memories attached to this inanimate object are brought roaring to life in a way that she wasn’t expecting. How could they? She’s just a baby overlooking an object in the room; the perspective has changed, but the emotions remain steadfast. Her openness to new experiences grab a hold of her curiosity and she can appreciate the aesthetics of the surroundings. The curiosity breeds thoughts of what else the giant room may hold, what visual treasures remain to be dug upland will their value be worth the rollercoaster of emotions they may well up.

Her eyes, now widened, dart around the room looking to achieve another focal point. The next target of interest is the big brown teddy bear propped up in the corner. It stands opposing; black eyes staring off into deep space, pointed ears erect, and the sheer size of the bear is enough to overwhelm her. At nearly double her size, its darkness holds the air of mystery and induces a slight reluctance in her gaze. Opposing, yes, but familiar at the same time. She knows it well from being placed in its embrace where the soft fur tickled her skin while she laid in a comfortable warmth. She is used to looking at the bear’s face up close and personal, but now her point of view has shifted to one of looking down at a distance. The distance removes the feeling of comfort as the tactile nature of the interaction is no longer there. The dichotomy of emotions, both acceptance of her new perspective, coupled with a tinge of fear, is slightly baffling to her. Once again the world in which she resides is ever-changing over space and time, changes that may not be anticipated, but command her respect. 

With a slight turn of her head a shock of color appears in the periphery of her eye, successfully vying for her attention. The short stack of blocks that she previously had so carefully placed one atop another sit on the floor. The base, a red one, the next is green, both topped by a blue one to complete the set. If one were to inspect them at short range, they aren’t perfect; having been placed slightly askew to each other. But now that she looks down on them from afar, they appear as a thing of beauty and a sign of her skill. The work that put together the perilously tilted tower was done with determination and zeal and now elicits a sense of pride. The distance adds to the aesthetics; the increments between her and the structure continuously adding to its beauty. Any faults are hidden, and the scope of appreciation grows along with Yugen’s scope of view. 

Showing signs of exhaustion from the whimsy she has just experienced, Yugen laid back down in her crib to process the events of the day. Soon she would be back in the comfort and guaranteed familiarity of the mattress and the blankets she knows so intimately well. As her eyes close, the world fades back into black, along with the memories made from the snapshots of the space which is her room, her world, her home. Her eyes will open another day to once again bring in the light of dawn where the all too familiar becomes the all too surreal. It becomes the next step in life for one small child; and a giant leap for her mind.