The Human Corner
Welcome to the Human Corner
This ongoing blog for “humans only” will be about you!
Together we will explore who we are on the outside, which is a big part of how we define ourselves – by our name, our occupation, our role as a mother, husband, brother, daughter, our body and the face we see in the mirror – as well as the world inside of us, which we know as our thoughts, feelings, emotions and memories.
We’ll dive into mindfulness practices like meditation and breathing techniques, a healthy diet, exercise, restful sleep and other topics about health and wellbeing. We’ll learn about the scientific studies of meditation and how we can measure and prove its healing benefits. We’ll explore parts of the Vedic tradition known as Vedanta, and discover the paths of yoga in simple but profound ways. You can enjoy our guided meditation, just for you. Sometimes we’ll offer you links to great articles or share beautiful and moving poetry from Rumi or Hafiz.
By simply reading these teachings of the great wisdom traditions of the world, you will feel a shift in your awareness – a subtle but deep recognition of your natural state, which is wholeness. This may be subtle in the beginning but as we go along and revisit this wisdom again and again, you may find it brings depth and richness into your life.
All-in-all one convenient, exciting corner where there will be great information for you, human!
Part one
What does it really mean to be "human"?
It means that you started out as a sperm cell dating an ovum. These 2 cells merged happily into 1 cell, which interestingly enough, started to divide. 1 became 2, 2 became 4, 4 became 8 and about 50 replications later you were born: an approximately 40 trillion cell individual. There you are!
Just take a moment to think about the wonder of the fact that all the information needed to make all your different tissues, organs, muscles, limbs, eyes, ears and brain was contained in 2 tiny cells that merged.
Then you, this 40 trillion cell baby, started to breath, all by yourself. You also knew instantly that you needed to be fed through the mouth rather than the umbilical cord. This is quite the orchestration, especially when you weren’t even aware of yourself at that time.
When do you remember your first memory of yourself? You being you?
When is your first memory of you seeing and noticing yourself as yourself? How did that happen? How does the recognition of one’s self – self awareness – arise? We know it happens spontaneously, but how?
As time went by, you became more aware of yourself as your body-mind and started to develop your personality, shaped by all your external influences like parents, family, school, culture, media, etc. This personality is still constantly changing. What you were thinking 10 years ago (your beliefs, your values and norms, your identity) is most likely totally different than what you believe and think today. It it ever-changing. So is your body.
It’s interesting to notice that we refer to this as “I”... this ever-changing phenomena of our body and mind. We refer to it as if it is a fixed object in time and space.
When we take a moment to really think about this, we realize how incredibly interesting it is. All of it. Consider your mind, your thoughts. We don’t know where they come from and who is thinking them. Look at your constantly shifting feelings and emotions and your changing body.
You are in close relationship with nature, the world and the universe. So close that we may come to the conclusion one day that you are the universe.
To be continued...
:: Sama Dog