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We tend to be brats.
Oblivious and ungrateful.
This body we have … we just ‘showed up’ with it.
We show up. It shows up.
We ‘put it on’; and we learn to use it.
If we hold out our hand (about a foot and a half) in front of us
(palm down) … then
if we have the desire for the hand to float upward (a foot or so)
we find –
that it DOES SO.
For me, THIS is adequate evidence
to show us – that the Soul owns the Body
(and NOT the other way ‘round)
It is also an indication that we HAVE put on our body.
We have claimed it … and now we own it.
(though of course, this remains a ‘magical’ phenomenon)
When we learned to ride a bicycle
or drive a car
or operate a backhoe
or play tennis …
we had to put on THAT body too
(or, I suppose, put on that particular augmentation)
… it’s like a new app.
Mmm?
If I say – “I have a body.” … who is this I?
Well … it is NOT my body … NOT my brain… not even my mind.
It’s my consciousness.
But (to be fair) – consciousness has TWO aspects: the Experiencer AND our Experience.
Part of our consciousness poses as ‘our computer’ … (or whatever is around … this is when we’re in the Waking State)
and the other part (simply) does the experiencing. That’s the Experiencer, and
is the True Self.
Mmm?
So … we find ourselves to be the beneficiary of the body (that we own).
It is (after all) … of Great Value to us.
How can we move toward being in Right Relation to it?
(How do we stop being [such] a brat?)
How do we stop ‘taking our body for granted?
That is the purpose of this particular essay.
I propose to give you (an imaginary) deck of cards.
The entire deck will represent – ‘the Body’;
and each card in the deck will represent
one of the SYSTEMS of the body.
And (since I think we should carry this deck of cards near our heart)
I propose to (also) give you an imaginary coat
which has an inside (left) breast pocket.
And this is where we will keep our deck of cards
(when we are not looking at them)
You will find
that whenever you wish to take out your cards –
they were there all along …
that they’re right there where you last put them –
in your left-inside breast pocket
near your heart.
Okay? (Easy!)
But before continuing I wish to acknowledge that there are people
who do not have all their (physical) parts …
(NOT that this makes them any less of a person)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPdmXsQMmBc (legless gymnast – Jennifer Bricker)
(This video is less than 5 minutes)
In any case … it is (of course) perfectly okay
for you to customize your own deck
according to your own sense,
your own body,
and your own intuition.
So … let’s develop a deck of cards, which we’ll be able to use
to help us count our blessings.
We should pull them out from time to time
(one a week perhaps); and
of course, we can augment them ourselves.
* * * * * * *
(card one): The Brain & Nervous System
Both the ‘central’ nervous system … and the ‘peripheral’ nervous system
are made up of neurons … nerve cells.
We have about 100 billion neurons.
I have (more than once) heard
that the human brain is more complex
than is the Entire Universe!
A neuron has two basic states: on … or off.
It’s either ‘firing’ … or it isn’t.
We have NINETY THOUSAND MILES of nerve pathways in our body!
(for reference … the circumference of the earth is about 25,000 miles)
http://www.ikonet.com/en/visualdictionary/static/us/the_nervous_system (structure of the nervous system)
In the peripheral system … there are a variety of (specialized) transducers
(a transducer changes energy from one form to another).
The transducers are all alike on the “inner” end; that is –
they are all able to make the neuron (they are attached to) fire.
But on the ‘outer end’ they vary.
Some are responsive to pressure … some to cold … some to pain … and so on.
The eye … is a virtual extension of the brain
… the ear, also.
Taste and smell … are (really) the same sense … just differently activated.
Pay attention sometime – how the tongue pushes food around inside your mouth
when you’re eating.
It does this (heroic) work … as though there were no danger present!
It’s very impressive.
(card two): the Heart & Circulatory System
http://www.ikonet.com/en/visualdictionary/human-being/anatomy/blood-circulation/schema-of-circulation.php (schematic of circulatory system)
https://www.livescience.com/39925-circulatory-system-facts-surprising.html (11 facts re blood system)
The total length of the blood vessels in our body is … 60,000 miles!
(about 80% of that length … is in capillaries [the smallest blood vessels])
(card 3): the Lungs / Respiratory System
http://www.ikonet.com/en/visualdictionary/human-being/anatomy/respiratory-system/respiratory-system.php (respiratory system)
Our lungs resemble a pair of ‘trees’ … growing upside-down inside our chest … whose roots are in the sky.
(card 4): the Stomach and Digestive System
http://www.ikonet.com/en/visualdictionary/human-being/anatomy/digestive-system.php (digestive system)
[You know how Newton figured out the basic Laws of Motion? He had an Excellent facility with Reference Systems!
Most car engines have a cooling system … including a radiator.
There’s a thermostatic valve in the bottom of the radiator cap, which, when the engine warms up, opens … and allows the water pump to circulate the coolant through the engine … and also through the radiator … where it loses heat to the air.
The cooling system is a closed system … with regard to fluids and pressure; but it’s open with regard to heat exchange.
We put holes in the front of our cars (we call this the ‘grill’)
so that air can blow through the radiator
(with the help of a big fan, right behind the radiator)
The radiator is and Exchanger … a Heat Exchanger.
As always … the Second Law of Thermodynamics
functions by virtue of a ‘slope’ … a ‘gradient’.
Air passing through the radiator takes heat from the radiator fins
because the fins are hotter than the air that’s going through them.
At first, we considered the cooling system itself to be ‘The System’
But now
we just expanded the boundaries …(like Isaac Newton would)
and now the air that’s flowing through the radiator
(typical environmental air)
is also part of the System we’re considering.
Mmm?
Thus – the (automatic) functioning of the 2nd Law … becomes our servant.
And THIS IS HOW OUR BODY WORKS.
In our lungs, for example, the circulatory system and the alveoli of the lungs are so
finely intertwined and closely interlocked
that (again) the 2nd Law operates to our advantage.
Where the red blood cells are oxygen-depleted compared to the air next to them,
then oxygen will transfer to the hemoglobin in the blood.
It’s an Exchanger …
(operated, as always, by the 2nd Law)]
Our blood system is similarly ‘married to’ our digestive system
(we have 30 feet of Small Intestine)
where the nutrients in our intestine automatically migrate into the blood plasma.
Another (very large) Exchanger.
(card 5): the Skeleto-muscular System
http://www.ikonet.com/en/visualdictionary/static/us/humanskeleton (skeletal system)
Muscle tissue is a superb biological invention … When stimulated (activated) by a motor nerve,
it contracts … shortens … pulls … produces motion.
(card 6): Kidneys & Urinary System
http://www.ikonet.com/en/visualdictionary/human-being/anatomy/urinary-system.php
(urinary system)
The liver removes fat-soluble toxins from the blood. The kidneys remove water-soluble toxins from our blood.
(card 7): Reproductive System
http://www.ikonet.com/en/visualdictionary/human-being/anatomy/male-reproductive-organs/sagittal-section.php (male reproductive organs)
http://www.ikonet.com/en/visualdictionary/human-being/anatomy/female-reproductive-organs/sagittal-section.php (female reproductive organs)
Consider how grateful you are to have these organs … even if you do not plan to have children.
(card 8): The Endocrine System
http://www.ikonet.com/en/visualdictionary/static/us/hormones (endocrine system)
Some glands secrete directly, using a duct dedicated to this purpose.
The endocrine glands, on the other hand, use ‘3rd-class mail’ … secreting their hormones into the blood … which takes that hormone everywhere in the body. Eventually it gets where it’s supposed to go.
(card 9): The Spleen & Lymphatic System
https://www.livescience.com/26983-lymphatic-system.html (lymphatic system)
The lymphatic system is an important part of our ‘immune system’.
(card 10): The Integumentary System … Skin
https://bodytomy.com/integumentary-system-organs (integumentary system)
The skin is the largest organ of the body … accounting for about 16% of the total body weight of an adult. Twenty pounds or more, in most cases.
* * * * * * *
Okay … that’s our deck of cards.
When you want to do a meditation on your body
(acknowledgement … appreciation … thanks … blessing)
take your deck of cards out of your breast pocket, and
one at a time … place them (face up)
in an array
‘on the table in front of you’
As you place each card on the table
name it;
and visualize that system of your anatomy – it’s most important parts or organs …
how it interfaces and is interlocked with the other systems.
Consider its Value to your life.
APPRECIATE IT.
(What works for me … is a little [imaginary] bow … my hands together, in front of my face
… a gesture of appreciation and respect)
Imagine each organ … and the entire system
functioning at the highest possible level …
in perfect health, and in complete Harmony
with the Entire Body.
(this is your ‘blessing’)
When you are finished, gather up the cards, and
(before you put them back into your breast pocket)
contemplate your Whole Body
Gratitude (Thanks)
Appreciation (Praise)
Blessing (Imagining Perfect Health)
Return the deck to your breast pocket, and
Put your hand over them (the whole deck).
Picture your body
the way it was when you were twenty.
Imagine how you will USE this (perfectly healthy) body …
the things you will DO with it …
HOW you will ENJOY it.
The effectiveness of such a practice
will (necessarily) be (partly) dependent upon
our knowledge and understanding
of the body
and how the various systems work
(and how they interact)
So … we should spend some time
increasing our understanding.
Mmm?
You should know about Gunther von Hagens
the father of Body Worlds.
https://bodyworlds.com/about/philosophy/ (von Hagens’ Body Worlds philosophy)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4Ld5C1jnlI (Plastination – Gunther von Hagens
6.5 minutes)
You may wish to include one or more cards for your chakras
and your various Subtle Bodies: the
Etheric Body
Emotional Body
Mental Body
Astral Body
Etheric Template Body
Celestial Body
Causal Body
You can do your own research.
I think you should be aware of the work of Alex Grey –
https://shop.cosm.org/collections/alex-grey (Alex Grey’s art)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Origin of the Praise of God
for Lewis Thomas, and The Lives of the Cell
My friend, this body is made of bone and excited protozoa! And it is with my body that I love the fields. How do I know what I feel but what the body tells me? Erasmus thinking in the snow, translators of Vergil who burn up the whole room; the man in furs reading the Arabic astrologer falls off his three-legged stool in astonishment; this is the body, so beautifully carved inside,with the curves of the inner ear, and the husk so rough, knuckle-brown.
As we walk, we enter the fields of other bodies, and every smell we take in the communities of protozoa see, and a being inside leaps up toward it, as a horse rears at the starting gate. When we come near each other, we are drawn down into the sweetest pools of slowly circling smells … slowly circling energies … The protozoa know there are odors the shape of oranges, of tornadoes, or octopuses …
The sunlight lays itself down before every protozoa,
The night opens itself out behind it,
And inside its own energy it lives!
So the space between two people diminishes, it grows less and less, no one to weep, they merge at last. The sound that pours from the fingertips awakens clouds of cells far inside the body, and beings unknown to us start out in a pilgrimage to their Saviour, to their holy place. Their holy place is a small black stone, that they remember from Protozoic times, when it was rolled away from a door … and it was after that they found their friends, who helped them digest the hard grains of this world … The cloud of cells awakens, intensifies, swarms … the beings dance inside beams of sunlight so thin we cannot see them … to them each ray is a vast palace, with thousands of rooms.
From the dance of the cells praise sentences rise to the throat of the man praying and singing alone in his room. He lets his arms climb above his head, and says: ‘Now do you still say you cannot choose the Road?’
– Robert Bly
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“As a child, I was enthralled by the small animals I encountered in the woods. The first specimens I dissected were beetles, frogs, and other small animal corpses that my friend, I found in the woods. These deaths shaped my thoughts on mortality, preparing me psychologically for my career as an anatomist.
Nowadays, in an accelerated technological age, when our environments are fashioned from steel and concrete, being in close proximity to animals—both domestic and wild—return us to authenticity. Outside of the rainforests and flora, they and we are the last remaining pieces of nature. They are our co-habitants on this spinning blue globe. ANIMAL INSIDE OUT, is both a celebration and an homage to animals both familiar and rare.”
– Gunther von Hagens
(creator of Body Worlds)
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