We use the analogy of bubbles rising to the surface of a mud pool and appearing as blips on the surface as a way of illustrating the way in which all life should be conceived as elements of the universe in its striving to relate to and scrutinise itself. We consider some implications for the way we make sense of those irruptions, and why drawing connections between surface appearances including ourselves, our lives and actions and words, is not the right approach to understanding them.