The Miracle of the Human Form
I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always been fascinated with how the human form functions. Maybe, it was that first insight and age of 7 that struck me.
“ . . . your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you” (Corinthians 3:16).
Perhaps it was the first time I stepped into a dance studio and received the initial thoughts that a ballet dancer I was to become. It doesn’t matter really, but early on I knew that I was meant to treat my temple with respect and reverence. And I must say, given the vicissitudes of a dancer’s life, it was not a light-hearted journey. From eating healthily on a budget; engaging in sufficient warm-ups just to begin the working day as limber as possible; dealing with egomaniacal artistic directors and challenging choreographers; and trusting the Divine to oversee rehearsals in safety and injury free—all these experiences formed and molded my commitment to self-care and genuine appreciation of this collection of muscles, ligaments, and tendons.
I didn’t fully understand the magnitude of the experiences but grew to value their lessons each day of my professional performing life and presently. Even then I knew that there was something else that propelled me into the field of dance. It was a curiosity and love of the relationship between myself and Spirit. Philosopher Edith Stein put it more eloquently,
“I do not exist of myself, and of myself I am nothing. Every moment I stand before nothingness, so that every moment I must be dowered anew with being . . . this nothinged being of mine, this frail received being . . .It thirsts not only only for endless continuation of its being but for full possession of being.”
But for practical purposes let’s just look at a few functions of the human body that might interest you. A healthy heart for example does its own thing without you having to think. About the size of your fist, weighing less than 11 ounces it pumps blood and oxygen through the entire body. On average the heart beats over 100,000 times p/day.
The lungs on the other hand absorb fresh air and removes toxins that oxygenate the blood flowing through our system. You don’t have to be a dancer to appreciate the importance of the lungs. Whether running, walking, or even sleeping, generally speaking, we are covered. We can go through the day without worrying if anything got stuck in our lungs or if one of them misfired. The work of the lungs happens mysteriously and for the most part miraculously.
Let’s take just one more example, the spine. Most of your musculature is supported by a column of bones, disks, nerves and the spinal cord. You can twist, bend, leap, and move in intricate ways, sometimes all at the same time. The spine also holds intricate swirling bodies (chakras) connecting thousands of nerves that help keep us balanced physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Much of our being functions through the autonomic nervous system (ANS) from our eyes to internal organs mostly without us having to heed its functions.
It is with wonderment and awe that I wake up each morning knowing I didn’t have to keep track of my heartbeat, my breath, and spinal fluidity and functionality. We’d be exhausted! Even asleep the body is more than a thing—it is an alive, vibrant, active biological organism. It was Meister Eckhart who said:
“The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me.”
I’ve learned to use twinges of pain, minor illnesses, and short-term congestion in my body as information, signs of imbalance. Not because I’ve mastered the art of body whisperings, but because I know that the body sends us signals to pay attention. Martha Graham affirms the value of these bodily sensations and boldly states:
“The body never lies.”
This awareness can empower us to become fully aware of our responses to the environment, people, and circumstances in which we find ourselves. We can assume that we are getting signals all the time. For we are more than skin and bones and muscles. We are light and energy, too. We are not things, but sheer activity emanating from a divine center, from light, from God. Now, isn’t that good news?
That means living from that center, listening to those messages, and responding with Wisdom makes us miraculous human beings. When we meet up with others we are engaging the divine within them. Think about that! We don’t need an advanced degree, approval from an institution, or a stamped certificate. We all have it within ourselves to respect, honor, and receive each other’s light. I can’t think of a more noble endeavor. Be the LIGHT.