even the first breath has to come out

When mammals are born the first breath is vitally important. The lungs have to be inflated in order to allow the use of oxygen and they contract to expel the carbon dioxide. Newborns need to start breathing soon in order to survive. The first breath is hard. A lot of force is needed. This reminds me of the force to inflate a new, flat balloon.

once they have started to breathe they cannot stop lest they will die.
Margaret Atwood : "Every breath you take is like the door stopper to keep death away"
The used carbon atoms in the exhaled CO2 are all around us and we add new ones with every breath.
AIR
a look at the anatomy of the lung


like the older balloon the lung can loose its elasticity (age, smoking) which is necessary to empty the CO2 outside >> the amount of fresh air that can be exchanged is decreased.
Breathing out is as important to breathing in ..... Let's enjoy every breath we take.

is homo sapiens special ?

The question of us (homo sapiens) being special comes up in many aspects of ethics. This is especially the case in debates about artificial reproduction, euthanasia etc., yet also in ethics of research, which we know leads us not inevitably toward the good only.

Man as a species often thinks of himself to be special. This in a way implies that he is an exception. Does special mean better? Are we fooling ourselves? There are rules but they apply to all living beings. This is nowhere more evident that in our inside. We are after all just like most other complex living beings the result of developing from an inner tube an outer tube and some stuff in between and have a set of building blocks we share with the whole world.


Some might argue that such simplification negates the stuff that makes humans special such as a soul a divine spark. Is it impossible for a worm to have a spark? We still call many living things animals , implying that they have an "anima", a soul. Carl Jung gives us a hint on understanding the human soul: "Dream psychology opens up a way to a general comparative psychology, from which we hope to gain the same understanding of the development and structure of the human soul, as comparative anatomy has given us concerning the human body".

In a biological sense we are very successful. We can declare ourselves special, different from all other animals and therefore deserving special treatment too. We are good at such statements, which allow us to exploit all others. After all they are here for us. In dealing among us, within our species, we are not much better. Some humans are still so special at birth that they feel permission to treat all others as less deserving, exploiting them as much as we in general make use of animals. Are we really special to such a degree that we are granted privileges, and by whom?
In religion e.g. as Christians we got some other humans (prophets) to proclaim that we were given such privileges by God, and have proof, as such facts were written down (bible). We (homo sapiens) made them true (?) at least according to our rules!
Does it make us good? We still have to live with our "shadow" (Carl Jung, The Undiscovered Self) as an integral part of our conscious self. We are so successful and we can achieve so much good yet we can exploit and destroy all other life and the Earth with it. Knowing this fact alone should make us very humble.
If we can see ourselves as integral part and not the owners of the world including everything within we might feel privilege in being blessed rather than in being empowered to exploit; thus raising our consciousness and becoming considerate.

Heart outside, yet connected

We often talk about the inside and use expressions such as the heart of the matter. A recent article in the New York Times August 10, 2010 : http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/health/10heart.html?emc=eta1 brought this aspect to a new dimension.

The story is about a patient and his "heart" (Ventricular Assist Device, VAD) outside the body. What is striking is the relationship between the connected "engine" and the brain of the patient. It has become completely interdependent with the whole body. While the brain generally exerts some control over the natural heart it is at the same time very much dependent on it for blood supply. In this story the man had an external pump that has its own control. Yet he(his brain) forgot his backup power supply / batteries etc. and he run out of "juice", created an emergency. Did his brain control the heart? Perhaps it was the other way around; the pump created a malfunction in the brain (malaise), or the patient was just plain forgetful.

The lesson for us VAD-less people: Be responsible and take care of ones' pump through continuous encouragement and gentle stress avoiding control. It will in turn assist the brain with all its power day and night. Never forget to recharge batteries!

storage inside

Our body behaves like a driftnet in the sea. At a given time there are many substances in the environment that are trapped in the mesh. Yet the mesh is constantly renewing itself by the rapid turnover/renewal of our cells. Many cells we loose take with them what they collected. This is particularly evident in our inner tube e.g. intestines and on our surface the skin (our largest organ).
Many advisers have us believe that we accumulate enormous amounts of chemicals over a lifetime and that we can get rid of them through cleansing. Yet what we would find in our body today might be a lot different from a few days earlier depending on where we (the driftnet) traveled through. What we get rid of by internal cleansing and drinking a lot of fluids are mainly water soluble items. The stuff that hides in the fat stays put.
Health professionals advocate strenuous exercise as part of the path to longevity. While such activities make good sense especially for our circulation the benefit may lie in the effects on the skin. This organ contains elements that can eliminate both water- and fat soluble matter. Thus for instance we sweat a lot of salt through sweat glands. Yet we cannot forget the thousands of sebaceous glands that excrete a lot lipids and therefore fat soluble compounds.

Thus many propose rigorous exercise, with perhaps some pain involved >>leading to sweat, is a way to get rid of what is stored in the fat. There is some further indication about that connection when we think of the mammary glands that are modified skin glands and are very efficient in mobilizing fat stored chemicals; so efficient that we worry about exposure of the offspring.
What is inside wants out ! Let's give it a sweat ! more activity less storage of noxious stuff........

Scientists and especially pathologists who know so much about our phantastic ability to get rid of unwanted stuff will explain that just letting the body do the work is the best option. No extra "medicines" are needed.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/jan/05/detox-science This site will help to understand myths and facts.

The skin is very much connected to feelings. Does it play a role in opening up, letting bad stuff out and good sensations in ? There is a hint:
the skins' connection to music
(an ad for the Zurich Chamber Orchestra: Goose bumps)

We not only accumulate toxic compounds to which we are exposed, we also store detrimental feelings that can shorten our life and we aggravate the effects by adding chemicals (medicines, drugs etc.). Getting rid of them is hard work too and often causes lots of pain. As with physical exercise we might do well consulting a friend or a coach (see blog synchronicity) . Where are those negative thoughts and feelings stored ? Fat or blood or bones (Robertson Davies "What's bred in the Bone") ?

James Fitzgerald "What Disturbs our Blood"(Random House Canada) explored that aspect in his quest for redemption.

hiding under ground

The warm summer days encourage many activities. Collecting mushrooms brings me close to nature and outings are often followed by some wonderful culinary experiences.

Chantarelles make a phantastic meal !

All the time I am reminded that what I am collecting are just "decorations" or perhaps flowers belonging to an organism I would not know where to find without them. Some of these living creatures are enormous:
Enormous mushroom
These "decorations"are in a state preparation for many months waiting for the right moment to come out, catching our eye and telling us where they are. They want to be seen! They come out from inside the ground and give us a fine show if we take the time to look.

Yet looking is often not enough. For anything that wants to be seen a degree of synchronicity is required. Thus we often stumble over what we were looking for just a few moments before or do not find what is obviously waiting patiently. We must be receptive for these moments, open up.

opening up

This morning a fine dew was covering the whole landscape.

Watching the sparkles in the droplets on green leaves made me recognize some closed poppies.

Like sparkles in the beautiful eyes your are looking at; creating anticipation for what is to come out. What is in there ? Waiting for a message to arrive from deep inside; can we be patient?

We often behave like flowers, at times with some sparkles on the outside, staying closed yet full of promises. The right circumstances let us open up and blossom. We could call it synchronicity (blog of May 25). Should we perhaps try to bloom / flourish on our own?

The messages from inside

Harry Frankfurt (see reading list) wrote an essay "the importance of what we care about". I often think: What do I really care about? We all have a messages inside that want to come out and perhaps define what we really care about. This in turn somehow defines us; makes us who we are. Such thoughts come freely when seeing a photograph like this one (on a greeting card) :
the man obviously knows what is important
What a particular person cares about is at times not so easy to detect. The tell tale signs given or messages sent often resemble rather subtle hints and much energy is spent to obfuscate. Unlike what happens among fireflies I encountered last night. A lot of sophisticated development went into the creation of a metabolic pathway that can produce light and the message from inside is simple and clear: "I am over here!". Hoping that someone cares.
Our messages come from deep inside; they want out; yet often we try to take control, add filters or translations in order to influence the receiver / reader. I wonder why ?