A Year of Sundays 32nd Sunday 8/10/25: A Biodome of the Soul

What an amazing week. It was full of much-needed rest

, leaving me with an overall feeling of peace. Amidst this tranquility, a profound moment of insight came to me while watching my granddaughter play a video game. As she created a world and a home for herself, her words were a window into a philosophical lesson.

She used the term “biodome” to describe her creations, explaining how her first home in the game had no walls and was full of holes. It was a fragile and exposed place. Now, she proudly showed me a new house—a small compound complete with a water feature, fortified and secure. She described how her home “must be protected at all times” and eagerly shared the defensive “devices” she had developed. She even created a tower so her sister could easily find her in the game, an act of both security and connection.

Watching and listening to her, I was struck by the raw wisdom of her digital world. It felt like a perfect, unscripted metaphor for our own lives. We enter this world with all the resources we need, but initially, our “house” is vulnerable, without walls or defenses. We are exposed to the elements, to tears, toil, and the unexpected.

This observation brought me back to the powerful words of Og Mandino (1968), who in The Greatest Salesman in the World, reminds us that we are the world’s greatest miracle. Mandino’s “Scroll Marked IV” (Mandino, 1968, p. 77) speaks directly to this idea, asserting that we are unique and rare, an end product of thousands of years of evolution. This innate potential is the foundation of our personal development. Similarly, Tremaine Payne (2020), in The Great Conductor, reflects on our life paths and the internal mechanisms that guide us. He posits that we have an inherent ability to conduct our own lives, making choices that lead to growth and resilience.

While there are copious studies that attempt to make sense of human development and the choices we make, the core truth is far simpler: we are equipped with the ability to construct our own safe and thriving “biodomes.” We have the capacity to build a life not with holes in its walls, but with intentional strength, purpose, and connection. The journey from a fragile state to a fortified one is a fundamental part of our personal development, a process of honoring the miraculous potential within us.

References

Mandino, O. (1968). The greatest salesman in the world. Bantam Books.

Payne, T. (2020). The great conductor. The Great Conductor Press.