Think back to your happiest childhood memory. Maybe it was building forts with your brother in the back yard. Or helping your mom harvest vegetables from the family garden. Perhaps the first time you rode a bicycle successfully. Live in that memory for a minute. Recall the little details: The smell of the soil; the sound of the rain; the warmth of the sun on your skin. A truly beautiful day.
What if I told you you weren't really there that day? As you may recall from reading "
You Are What You Eat," every single cell in your body (with the exception of neurons, which make up about 10% of the brain) is replaced every 7 to 10 years. In other words: If the memory you were just reliving was from more than 10 years ago, not one bit of your current physical make up was actually present that day.
Stop and think about that for a minute.
This means that whatever it is we as Humans are, it is not the physical stuff of which we are made. It seems easy to make the argument that we are the values we hold and the thoughts we think, but are we really? Consider this: Your thoughts and emotions are products of the physical makeup of your brain and body. Without the brain cells and synapses in your head and physical existence of the rest of your body, you would not be able to think or feel emotion. As thought-provoking as this is, it's nothing compared to recent scientific discoveries.
Atoms - which are made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons - are the smallest unit of measure for what physically makes up everything in the known Universe. Modern scientists are able to closely examine the physical structure of the individual atoms that make up all matter, and
here's what they see:
- The nucleus which is located at the heart of every atom makes up more than 99.9% of its mass, but only a trillionth of its total volume
- At only 1/1,836th the size of a proton or neutron, electrons contribute almost nothing to an atom's mass, but are the most active component of an atom, responsible for bonding
- More than 99.9% of an atom's volume is empty space. If an atom's nucleus were the size of a basketball, its electrons would be zipping around several miles away
- When electrons jump between energy levels, they don't move through the space between. Instead, they disappear from one level and then instantly reappear on another level
- Atomic nuclei are held together by a strong force, which is 1,038 times stronger than gravity, but only operates on the minute scale of a nucleus
What does this mean? Among other things, all matter in the known Universe - the chair you're sitting on, the screen you're looking at, every part of your very body - is more than 99.9% empty space. Solidity is an illusion. At the atomic level, you are made up of innumerable microcosms of the entire Universe. The very same vastness of the Universe is within you. On top of this, every atom in your body is made up of charged particles. Quite literally, you emit energy into and absorb energy from the world around you. This suggests the old tried-and-true adage "what goes around comes around" is based on scientific truth. If you put positive energy into the world you will get positive energy back.
Due to the laws of
conservation of matter, we know that matter is never created or destroyed. It only changes form. In other words, every single atom that makes up your body has been in existence since the beginning of the Universe. You are literally made up of "star stuff." In fact, at any given moment, you have approximately
200 billion of the same atoms that once made up William Shakespeare within your own body.
What holds it all together? What can take more than 99.9% nothing and create the illusion of solidity we experience? What underlying intelligence could drive everything in the universe that is not controlled by thought? The beating of your heart, the electrical firing of the synapses in your brain, cellular growth of all living organisms, the structural makeup of a rock, the rotating of the Earth on its axis and within our solar system...all of it is driven by the same underlying intelligence, the same life force that flows through all that exists.
This is the true nature of God - the underlying intelligence of all that has ever been or will ever be. Earlier this year, quantum physicists proved the existence of this intelligence with the discovery of the
Higgs Boson. This is the true nature of what
you are as well: Everything you are is a part of God, as is everyone you will ever know. Conversely, God is all that exists, including all of us.
We are all truly one. This is another fatal flaw of organized religion: It makes God less than it really is by trying to objectify "Him" as a bearded deity. This puts God into a box in which God clearly does not fit.
Right now, there is a massive and ever-accelerating awakening happening as humans everywhere are stilling the chatter of their brains and reconnecting with God, and so, each other. But how can you remember this connection? By quieting your mind and realizing the one basic, irrefutable, immeasurable truth: All we ever have is this moment. Chronological time is an illusion: Right here and right now are all that ever truly exist. Everything else is a construct of your brain. The past happened, but it happened now. The future will happen, but it will happen now. When you realize this and take your full attention into the present moment, you find God. When your full attention is focused on right here and now, the actions you need to take to effect meaningful change become crystal clear, and together, we change the world.
Stilling your mind is the hard part. The voice in your head is constantly chattering away and distracting you from issues of real importance. You begin to quiet this voice by listening to it. Don't judge it or analyze it, just stop and really listen. When you do this, you become something more than your thoughts - you become the silent watcher. When you realize you are not the voice in your head, it becomes possible to quiet that voice. With practice, you can completely master your thoughts. When your thoughts no longer run rampant, your brain ceases to be the source of your suffering and instead becomes a powerful tool of change.
Eckhart Tolle has written several books on this matter that are becoming a powerful tool in waking up Humanity. Two are "
The Power of Now" and "
A New Earth." Both ring with truth and are worth reading.
Humanity is on the verge of an unprecedented evolutionary leap, but it cannot happen without you. It's time to awaken.
"You are the Universe expressing itself as a human for a little while." -Eckhart Tolle
Take a look at the poem to the right. It was written about Nazi Germany and the extermination of 11 million Jews. Read the words through a few times. I have an alternative poem for you:
