Humans are somewhere in the middle really. It seems obvious to me that there are things in the cosmos both "greater" and "lesser" than I am -- in size, complexity, mental capacity...all that stuff. And even within my own body, there are multiple "beings." I am not my breath; I am not my heartbeat. There are millions of processes within my body happening every second that I know nothing about. Still, I have a certain amount of control, a certain realm of dominion. And with that dominion -- responsibility.
Yeah, on occasion I've tried to move things with my mind. I'll admit it. You have too, admit it. Funny thing is, I can. My hand, for instance. I just think it...and it moves. Sometimes I think we get so caught up seeking greater power that we forget about the power we already have. Being able to control my hand may seem trivial to me at times...but it's not! Think of those poor ants who work all day carrying one grain of sand at a time. I bet they wish they had my hand. That would make their job nice and cosy, wouldn't it? They'd be done in a second and have the rest of the day to...oh, I don't know, make tasty ant microbrews or something. And then drink them.
POINT IS, my realm of responsibility is significant. There are certain things that I can control, and certain things that I can't. When I think about the things that "I" have been given control of, it seems to me that most of them have to do with the interaction between my body and the outside world. I control what I eat, what I look at, what I say, where I go. I'm like an ambassador between the inside world of my body and the outside world of...the world.
And if I want to excel at the responsibilities that I have been given, well then, I should take care of myself. I should protect my body from harm, and nurture its growth. My body has no problem telling me sometimes when I am doing something "wrong;" pain often ensues. It also seems to inform me when things are going well in various ways.
Though I retain many more abstract social goals in life, many times it is good for me to step back and be contented with happily fulling the responsibilities that were naturally entrusted to me at birth (or, at least, when I became old enough to take care of myself). After all, my body is already a society of many living things, and it seems to me that I have already been appointed to a leadership role in that realm.
And I still believe that those who are responsible with "little" things will find themselves responsible for "bigger" ones.
-m@
5 comments:
Hi Matt. Interesting reading lately. I just discovered the last three posts this morning. What is the picture of? Red blood cells? (I'm guessing) Does it say some place? Love you :)
Wow, you do seem to be a loving, caring, and concerned leader of your body. I, on the other hand, am a ruthless dictator. My body works for me and doesn't complain, because if it does i will silence it...ah, but I regress. You have a good point. Not only should we all realize our responsibilities to our bodies, but we should appreciate what we are capable of. I wonder what the greater beings are capable of. ya know, besides being "all powerful" like how much rice could they lift? :)
I'm interested in your body-silencing techniques...flogging? Shooshing? Do you make it watch Tyra?
And which "greater beings" are you speaking of? Like, planetary bodies and stars and stuff, or ike God?
Because I'm pretty sure that the Earth can lift all the rice. I think it's doing it right now...
Well, to be more specific, since you asked I am curious as to what things God would be able to do that I haven't even thought of. An ant can't even concieve of calculus, and I pimp calculus. So, what can a god do that I can't even imagine. See, now I want to give you an example, but if I can imagine it its totally lame to God. However, for fun i would like to Him fold a piece of paper more than seven times.
Wow. Exactly. To me, the best answer to that question is no answer at all. Like you said, if you answer it, then you fall short. Orthodox Jews won't even write the word G_d because even by giving something a name, you accidentally presume to understand it in some way.
Here's a question: Does the ant have any concept that a greater intellect than its own even exists? Probably not. If not, then what things bigger than us might have greater intellects that we can't conceive of?
I, for one, think that the whole liquid-metal core of the earth theory is mumbo jumbo, and that if we ever dig deep enough we'll probably find a nice, squishy brain.
And I'll bet a black hole can fold a paper more than seven times...
Post a Comment