What costs US$ 168 to build?
The human body, by some accounts. Actually, an episode in Nova, a science show on PBS, came up with this figure for the value of there fundamental components of the human body.
Britain’s Royal Society of Chemistry, in 2013, performed a similar exercise and came up with a figure of US$ 158,000…excluding labour charges.
Whatever figure you eventually put to it, is immaterial. Since all the money and brains in the world have not been able to make a single living cell…well, till date of course.
The human body is a feat of nature that we don’t think much about. We all know what DNA is, but did you know that DNA can survive for thousands and thousands of years? In effect, it will outlive us for generations and generations to come, in a world where your own name may not survive more than 3-4 generations.
The genome is what keeps our line of existence going. Not once in three billion years since life began, has our line of descent been broken. This is the line of thinking that our ancient rishis adopted when they put in place the GOTRA system. Go – cow and Trahi- shed, which basically translates into keeping the family (lineage) together.
We share 99.9 percent of our DNA, yet are different from each other, since it still differs in around three million places, which is enough to create individuality.
What is more astounding is that our 7-8 octillion (billion billion billion) atoms have existed since time, and while they do not have a mind of their own, nor any single binding thought or mechanism to unite, yet they come together and become this moving, thinking and emotional human being.
So is the beauty of life, and this is why science has not yet been able to find out how life actually happens. When does the single cell, created by the fusion of the sperm and the egg, become alive? Or conscious? What triggers it? And how?
I’m speaking of this today because we need to be reminded – of how special each one of us is – and how we are a true miracle of nature. Many religions claim to show you miracles – but one does not need religion to witness a miracle.
Just look in the mirror. You are one. And so am I, and so is every single living thing out there.
See you tomorrow!