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| 16.4 |
The human body |
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"What am I made of?" |
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"How do I function?" |
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| The two most common questions we ask about our physical construction is "what am I made of?" and "how do I function?" The answers to both questions have multiple layers of meaning and detail, that often can be bewildering once you begin to discuss specific systems within the human body. | ||
| There are several ways in which various texts and teachers provide answers to such questions. To children it used to be encapsulated in a nursery rhythm- "sugar and spice and all things nice, that what girls are made of".. To children at school, we are taught more and more layers of detail about the complex organism that is the human being. | ||
| At University we may be enrolled in one of the medical sciences. Here we are literally bombarded with thousands of facts about the function and structure of the human body- all requirements of knowledge in order to pass western exams for medicine. | ||
| So it is, as we venture through each successive layer of knowledge, the picture of "what am I made of?" and "how do I function?" becomes more complex as we approach an approximate truth. For most of us, the lists of facts and treatments prescribed by doctors is far too numerous and complex to say anything more than "OK". Yet is this an optimum method of describing the answers that exist to the question "what am I made of?" and "how do I function?" | ||
| Instead of diving straight into the complex categorization of the hundreds of bones, organs, glands, tissues, veins and inner workings of the human body, let us start at the top and summarize what we know via UCA about the first question- "what am I made of?" | ||
| 16.4.1 | The unique collective body of awareness (UCA) | |
| If you have read the previous chapters then the first substance, the primary substance from which we are made is pure awareness- UCA. This is the same as every other thing we see, think or feel. Every particle at its heart is awareness in motion- the dream in motion. | ||
| At this most basic level we are the stuff of dreams and part of the dreamer. As explained in Chapter 5 and successive chapters, the human being like all existence is both real and ethereal at the same time- in support to the research completed by Plato in the concept of IDEA and EIKON. | ||
| 16.4.2 | Awareness makes up matter- molecules, atoms | |
| While some readers may still find this concept difficult and contradictory to their own beliefs ( particularly if you haven't read UCA starting from chapter 1), then there should be no disagreement that at the level of matter, human beings are also made of complex arrangements of atoms and molecules. | ||
| We are, like all life, basically complex arrangements of hydro-carbon atoms. The majority (95%)of what makes us up can be categorized into four basic elements- hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon. | ||
| At this level, we share a common bond with all matter in the universe, with our star, with our planet, with our galaxy. In other words, when you look at a rock, or a pool of water, you share much of the same building materials as these- although arranged in a far more intricate and complex arrangement. | ||
| 16.4.3 | Molecules make up cells-Corpus the cellular universe | |
| Then at the building block level of all life, we are essentially a colony of cells. At the cellular level, our cells function with the same basic characteristics of all living cells. We have DNA like all other cells, we have cell membranes and specialized cells. | ||
| At the cellular level we share common heritage to the smallest and most ancient of lifeforms- bacteria, fungi and algae. We are in fact distant relatives to all life, including the animals we slaughter to eat. | ||
| We describe this universe of cells, CORPUS in honor of the base intelligence of the planet which we call our home. We are part of CORPUS and CORPUS is part of us. | ||
| 16.4.4 | The structure of a vertebrate | |
| Within CORPUS, we belong to the most advanced general branch- the vertebrates (constituting less than 2% of all life on earth (Corpus). While vertebrate are the minority of lifeforms on the planet earth, they are by far the most advanced, having mastered climactic changes and the ability to produce independent volition ( movement). | ||
| 16.4.5 | The structure of a primate | |
| Within the general classes of species that constitute vertebrates, humans belong to a narrow class known as bipeds. Within this class we belong to a group known as the primates- Two legs, two arms, five fingers on each foot and hand. | ||
| Our physiological structure as well as our genetic protein DNA coding shares strong similarities with chimpanzees and gorillas, in spite of obvious external differences. Humans in terms of their basic anatomy and functionality are primate- apes. | ||
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