21 grams

When we pass, they say 21 grams leaves our body (none for dogs); some say it is our soul, but I feel it is expectation – presence – our life’s story released. I find meaning in that my life held some weight. 

And not to say that a dog does not have presence in life, but I do not believe that a dog has expectations of its life. One day does not necessarily link to the next year, and there is a lightness in that.

“The thing about life…

if we knew nothing of what was missing,

what has been removed,

it would look full and beautiful.” 

Maggie Smith

The idea that 21 grams leave the body upon death comes from an early 20th-century experiment by Dr. Duncan MacDougall, who attempted to measure the weight of the soul. He weighed six dying patients and observed a small weight loss at the moment of death, which he claimed was proof of the soul departing the body.

However, his experiment was deeply flawed—his sample size was tiny, his methods lacked scientific rigor, and his results were inconsistent. Modern science attributes any postmortem weight loss to natural processes like air leaving the lungs, moisture loss, or other biological factors.

That said, the idea of the "21-gram soul" has taken on a life of its own in popular culture, inspiring movies, books, and philosophical debates about consciousness and the nature of life. Whether there's something metaphysical at play is still a matter of belief rather than science.