living in a state of perpetual awe

One of perks you get to enjoy as a physician is living in a state of perpetual awe. It starts with the first pass of the scalpel on the first day in the anatomy lab. It continues as you tease out every organ, blood vessel, and nerve in the body you've been assigned to dissect. A sense of wonder punches you in the gut the first time you hear a beating human heart and realize your own heart has been pumping steadily and predictably without any effort on your part since before the day you were born. In fact, your heart has been beating, on average, 72 times every minute of your life. This adds up to approximately 100,000 times every day, or 3,600,000 times per year, and depending on how long you live, as many as 2.5 billion times...until the moment it stops.

But then, who's counting?

That, in itself, would be amazing enough, but I learned a few more facts this week that astounded me. Did you know that the human eye can detect a single photon? That the inner ear can detect vibrations less than the diameter of an atom, and it can distinguish sounds that are just ten millionths of a second apart? That the human olfactory system can detect a trillion distinct smells? Did you realize we can detect tactile sensations down to one billionth of a meter? 

Yay, human body!

"There is more wisdom in your body

than in your deepest philosophy."

~Friedrich Nietzsche~

This is how reality manifests on the quantum level. It reminds me once again that every process in the human body is carried out with utmost precision, perfect timing, and uncanny coordination...in ways we are just beginning to appreciate. 

But what if you've never heard of the quantum domain? What difference does it make whether you know this about your Self or not? 

The way I see it, if knowing this brings you a sense of wonder, you might be motivated to take better care of this one amazing Self you live with. Feed it well. Give it some exercise. Let it rest. Avoid poisoning it with chemicals. Encourage it. Love it. 

"Self care is a divine responsibility."

~Danielle LaPorte~

Knowing this about your Self might bring you closer to the perpetual state of awe that I enjoy. And it might affect the way you see everyone else...as something of a mystery. A wonder. A miracle. 

 

"We touch heaven when 

we lay our hand on a human body."

~Novalis~

The fact that the body knows what to do to keep itself healthy is extraordinary. The fact that it knows how to heal itself--to heal a broken bone, to close an open wound, to reanimate a lifeless heart-- is beyond the wildest imagination. The way it accomplishes it is incomprehensible.

Biologists, physicians, philosophers, theologians, and quantum theorists are hard at work trying to figure out what it is that makes us tick...while our bodies are mysteriously, silently, and predictably doing what they do best: making us who we are...beings worthy of reverence, loving-kindness, connection, peace, and joy. 

"Be good to yourself.

If you don't take care of your body,

where will you live?"

~Kobi Yamada~

To this I would add: 

Be good to everybody.

If you don't take care of them,

how will you live with yourself?

jan