Part of learning to love ourselves is appreciating our own miraculous body, not just externally, but what is much more interesting and truly awesome to me, internally, as complex body chemistry generates internal messages that reach every necessary cell.
The things that I find exciting about the human body are what we can’t touch directly. We take our cars to body shops for repairs and perform maintenance every so many miles, but what keeps our body going? Why do some people go on for 100 years and others half that time? You can answer that it’s genetic, but why are the genes doing what they are doing? Who is giving the orders, and who or what is taking orders? Why is a touch significant; why do we need to sleep; and what is consciousness? Let me try and answer some of these questions.
You can see my problem isn’t about ego. Most people would base a book on the above, and I’m trying to answer in a page or so. When you think of the communication going on in the body, it all boils down to the cell membrane and what communicates with it. How we are touched by others, and how we reach out to touch others, creates an internal chemistry that speaks directly to every cell. There is memory and intelligence in every cell. It has a job to do and is equipped to do it, but it’s still following orders that integrate it into the needs of the body as a whole. Who or what is in charge and makes the decisions is beyond understanding as far as I am concerned.
We know from the stories of transplant recipients that organs carry memory. A painful life has its adverse effects when it leads one to not want to live. The will to live is not just about desire, but about the chemistry and internal messages which are being communicated to the cell. I know how I feel on my difficult days, and I pay attention to those feelings and internal messages—and respond to them.
Bacteria are capable of making intelligent genetic changes to become resistant to antibiotics, which upsets us. But instead, why not be pleased by the ability that exists within us to do the same thing to successfully survive. I know it is more difficult for us than the bacteria because of how simple their lives are compared to ours.
However, everyone with a gene for a disease doesn’t get it. I do know of identical twins who both develop the same disease, but I know of more identical twins who do not develop the same disease. I believe their lifestyle, both physical and emotional, makes the difference. Again, this is not about blame, but about internal wisdom and messages.
Think of the great undifferentiated potential from which we all come. Now think of yourself as a circle within that circle with no circumference. You are touching it, separate from it and a part of it, all at the same time. You are aware and conscious of yourself and more. Our bodies may be present locally but consciousness goes beyond any physical limitations. I have had personal experiences with intuitives and mediums that have convinced me of our potential to communicate and see in ways that most of us are not taught even exist. The CIA uses these non-local abilities to spy on people.
I think a part of our brain requires rest, so that it can communicate in symbols while we sleep. Think about it. Why do we sleep when sleep is dangerous? Predators can pounce upon sleeping animals, so why do what is dangerous? I believe that sleep is necessary to restore and maintain the system upon which consciousness depends. It is true that we hear while we sleep to provide us the warning of noisy threats, but a good predator is quiet.
As a surgeon I am fascinated by sleep and anesthesia. We don’t know how anesthesia works, but we use it every day. My sense is that it works through the pathways that lead to sleep. We can lose consciousness, but still maintain all the other body functions—and even respond physiologically to verbal commands and touch while anesthetized. So consciousness exists during sleep and communicates what we need to know via symbols.
What happens to consciousness when the body dies? My opinion, from my experience, is that consciousness continues to exist without the need for the body. That great undifferentiated potential from which we are derived is conscious without form. We give it form so it can act and touch other living things. The touch that cannot be felt is a mystical or spiritual event that most people never experience.
My hope is that someday we will all experience both touches—the touch of other living things, be they our pets, family, or therapists, and also the touch of creation, so that we feel a part of something greater then we appear to be. I think when people feel this connection, their membranes get a very powerful live message and feel integrated into the process of creation and so we sing, ‘Touch me and know what happiness is.’
Remember you are the one who sets the limits as to how far you can reach and what you can touch in your lifetime. So make the sky your nonexistent limit.
Why am I sharing this? Why do I want you to have a sense of awe? So that each day will be a gift of wonder and not a burden. As a surgeon I need to be practical, just as you do, but to experience life and healing, one needs to reach beyond the practical, palpable things that fill our lives and live with a sense of wonder and awe.
I want you to achieve your potential. As Ernest Holmes said, “What if Jesus was the only normal person who ever lived?” Hmmmm, think about that for a minute.
Peace,
Bernie