Unit Operations of Life

One of the few things that continues to guide me is the concept of mass and energy balance. It was the first course I taught when I began my career, and also the topic on which I was questioned in my very first interview. At that time, I understood it purely through the lens of a precise, logical framework.

Only much later in life did I begin to see its deeper meaning. I now realize that the same principle governs our inner world. Nothing in life is ever lost; emotions, experiences, and efforts merely transform from one form to another. Joy converts into wisdom, pain into empathy, energy into insight.

The unit operations of life are experiential: learning, giving, enduring, reflecting. Each operation refines the raw material of existence into something purer.

I am understanding these operations late in the evening of my life, and finding that the equations still hold true.