So many of the aspects that make up our total human experience we did not chose for ourselves. We are bound to this single globe suspended in space. Upon this planet, we inhabit only its surface.  We utilize only its upper crust. We can only breathe if we remain within the slim 10 miles between the surface of the earth and the lower atmosphere. At an altitude above 62,000 feet, our blood would boil within our veins. On the surface of the planet, we have the elements, hostile temperatures, and rough seas to contend with, confining nearly every living person to continents between 60 degrees north or south latitude.

When it comes to our lives and our health, we have made such strides in medicine, we are lead to believe that an end is coming to all sickness and dying. It would seem that throughout antiquity researchers are pushing back against death and dying with magnificent wonder and miracle. Let’s be reminded, that we still cannot cure the common cold, nor can we add years to one’s life. The life expectancy for humans is highest in Japan with an average of 82 years. Here in the USA it is 77. (CIA World Factbook)

We may stand on the coastline, the edge of a cliff, or the edge of our health, but without the assistance of machinery, equipment, and a fair bit of technology, we are confined to where we are. Although we believe that we are bigger, stronger, or more transcendent (more independent) that we truly are, the reality of human experience is that we are very small, very fragile, and quite insignificant in our small environment. We may be addicted to stretching beyond ourselves and our limits–to reach further than we ever have in human history, but the reality that returns with all of the record-breaking data is that we are tethered here with no where to go, and no business being elsewhere. Read the rest of this entry »