Part II: The reason for, “My Big Theory of Everything.” What is My Big T.O.E.? Let me try and sum it up for you.
That we humans are, in some sense, a plot of topsoil that decided it was no longer comfortable just sitting around in a picturesque garden. A plot of topsoil that resolved to get up off the face of the Earth so that it could see the world. And so it worked really hard to reshape itself into a form that would be good at walking about the face of the earth that had once been its home.
It built itself a rugged framework of calcium and an external lipid bi-layer out of its immediate elements to hold itself together and equipped itself with a minimal set of sensory organs that would be necessary to make upright bi-pedal movement a possibility. This of course took a lot of will and many millions of years, a lot of trial and error, but eventually, it paid off and patience found success. What we today call modern man.
What should a modern man eat? The same thing that a plot of topsoil would eat to remain alive and active. Primarily produce consisting of fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens. Whatever would be consumed by the micro-organisms that live in topsoil are also beneficial for life as a human. Plant-based whole foods. Why? Because those same micro-organisms we find in the topsoil of the Earth are also found within the innermost parts of our digestive tract. As above; so below. Out of the Earth, we came. From the Earth, we are made, and to the Earth, we will return.
Next time someone tells me that I am special, I will remind them that I am just dirt…8). In the meantime, I am here in this body for a number of years defined by terms like lifespan, healthspan, and life expectancy. Our lifespan is around 120 years. Our current health span is about 63 years. And our current life expectancy is about 78.5 years. To me, this is a problem that needs solving, in my mind sooner than later considering I am only 13 years away from that health span number of 63.
I am writing about this because it should be obvious that we have failed to grasp exactly what it takes to get to a full lifespan with a healthspan that aligns with one another. If we could match these two number’s up we could ditch the term life expectancy altogether. So why are we failing so badly?
I would like to suggest that we are failing because we are not yet in possession of a true understanding of just what a human body is and what it is made of. That it is still just as much of a mystery, as a whole creature, as it was 200 years ago. That what it is we are missing is a practitioner that can provide us with a more accurate understanding of the nature of who we are, why we are here, what our purpose is, and to what end?
We’ve got an amazing selection of medical and scientific professionals that can tell us many things about the area of their specialty, but what about a grand orchestrator over all of these specialized concentrations of knowledge. A person that’s purpose would be to interact with all of these areas of specialty that could understand how they all interact with each other and where excesses or deficiencies in each individual system could negatively hinder the overall progress of the whole creature. Someone like the conductor of an orchestra.
So back to my original premise. What if we are simply an extension of the topsoil we grow our foods in? What would that mean for us? To me, it could make it much easier for us to better understand the true nature of man and how to better serve man with an understanding of life that would allow us to not only live a longer life but also appreciate a fuller one by simply treating our body according to its nature. A plot of topsoil that just happened to change its shape and appearance.
A holon (Greek: ὅλον, from ὅλος, holos, ‘whole’ and -ον, -on, ‘part’) is something that is simultaneously a whole in and of itself, as well as a part of a larger whole. In other words, holons can be understood as the constituent part–wholes of a hierarchy…something that has integrity and identity while simultaneously being a part of a larger system; it is a subsystem of a greater system. –Wikipedia
Ever find yourself feeling significantly better after walking barefoot across a field of grass? Ever wonder why this practice of walking barefoot in contact with the Earth makes us feel more at one with nature? I imagine it has something to do with the true nature of who we are and what we are made of according to, “My Big T.O.E.” Something that we somewhere forgot about along the road of progress toward who we are today.
Think about it for a moment. If we are from the Earth and all of our being is made up of the same stuff as the topsoil of the Earth, being in direct contact with it should not only be re-energizing, but it would also in a sense be a family reunion for those things living within us and the topsoil beneath our feet. To me this makes sense. At least we could then come to a better understanding of how to better address our healthspan problems. We could then simply look at the topsoil around us for answers to some of these deeper questions.
In some sense, we are the Earth and the Earth is in us as much as we are in it. Maybe this is the missing link that will ultimately help us better live our fullest life. A full lifespan of 120 years with a healthspan that matches that 120 years. And then who knows. Maybe we will find out as a result that we are not limited to 120 years.