What a piece of work is man...

"What a piece of work is man
How noble in reason
How infinite in faculties
In form and moving"

What a piece of work is man

Hair

Last week I had one of those "old man" things - an ingrown toenail. It got infected and puffy, so I took care of the toenail and dressed the wound. Despite my care, the toe really started to heal itself. The white blood cells rushed to the wound and started killing any germs that got inside the body. All this before I even knew I had a problem. I did not tell my white blood cells what to do - they did so because my body (like all of ours) is wired that way. Thanks to our autonomic nervous system, our hearts keep beating and our lungs keep filling with air. Our bodies just do what needs to be done to keep us going. Scientists fully understand how the autonomic nervous system works - they just have yet to understand why.

Recently, I read an article about a huge leap in technology that could be coming in the next five years. The article states we might have a PC or a mini computer which is so powerful, so fast, it could almost duplicate the human brain. However, one scientist admitted that even if this could happen, there are still nuances and same very low power requirements the human brain has that computers will have trouble matching.

Let that sink in for a minute. The following was taken from The Human Brain website and I think it sums up this wonderful organ we all have:

"You have been entrusted with the care and feeding of the most extraordinary and complex creation in the universe. Home to your mind and personality, your brain houses your cherished memories and future hopes. It orchestrates the symphony of consciousness that gives you purpose and passion, motion and emotion."

Our "on-board computer", our brain, which weighs only 3 pounds and has 100 billion nerve endings is the "wonder of the universe" And yet it is something most of us take for granted. From the time we come out of the womb, the "hard disk" starts recording. Even before the time your first breath is taken, the heart is beating under the direction of the autonomic nervous system. 

We go through life, breath in, oxygen gets into our lungs, attaches on to red blood cells, nourishes cells and so on. Our cells split and reproduce, our wounds heal and our sweat keeps our body temp where it should be.  All without us doing a thing (consciously) to help it. Our food gets digested in our stomach and small intestine, our liver filters out all the crud we are not suppose to put into our bodies, and our large intestine and bowl...well, you know.

So the next time you think about your body, well -- really think about it. This magnificent machine in which we live is so complex, so wonderful, that scientists can only dream of duplicating  even a small part of it. Next time you wonder about how we got here, remember this - everything in or of our bodies has a very important reason for being the way it is. It is almost as if there was a divine plan for how we were made. Think about that as we approach Holy Week.