Where Is the Human Body’s Self-Referral?
“I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor. It is glorious to paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.” – Henry David Thoreau
We find ourselves today in a unique place in history: so many are saying, “Stop! Wait a minute! Let’s rethink things and REALLY DO BETTER!” This is a good time to grab this opportunity with both hands and make the best of such an occasion.
Last time we met to exchange ideas here, I introduced an in-depth look at the body’s Self-Referral. The idea of Self-Referral is simple: The brain has certain set-points that it uses to maintain normal body function. If blood pressure gets too high, we have tissue damage. If blood pressure gets too low, we pass out. Self-Referral balances all of this. Nearly all body operations also operate governed by Self-Referral. It is the gap between normal Self-Referral and its breakdown that causes the aging process and disease.
There are fundamental assumptions in medical care that also need to be reexamined. In the medical field, there is far too much focus on DISEASE and how to FIGHT DISEASE. What about HEALTH? Can we better identify and understand HEALTH, and through that better understanding, make a medical care model that is better than what we have now?
Where Is the Human Body’s Self-Referral?
I have recently published the book Self-Referral/Maximum Health. The central thesis is that Self-Referral is the body’s ability to govern itself. This is a simple yet complex communication that goes on between the brain and the body. The brain constantly gets feedback from the body. Nerve and chemical receptors everywhere act as a sensory net to send body status information to the brain in real time. The brain reacts to incoming data and sends orders that keep body processes within the brain’s set-points. This feedback loop – between brain and body – is Self-Referral.
Where is the body's Self-Referral? we must look for unity among diversity. We must find one process that is the same everywhere. Self-Referral is an idea - a principle that creates and maintains balance – and, through that balance, creates health and prevents disease.
At first glance, the human body is too complex to understand. The body’s many organs and functions seem mysterious and unknowable. Suggesting a single process that unifies the body seems foolish. What could the lungs, brain, or kidneys have in common? What similarity is there between circulating blood and breathing air?
Whether we recognize it or not, the body is one unit and works as a single organism. Through many decades of life, the human body takes whatever life offers - and usually stays healthy. The idea that the body has many parts that work together is not new. The body has many organs, functions, and operations – yet somehow the body functions as a single unit. We read in the Bible’s Corinthians 12:12-20:
“The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though its parts are many, they form one body.
If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not cease to be part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? . . . God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be . . . there are many parts, but one body.”
All in all, it is amazing that the body works at all - let alone that it works perfectly most of the time. So many parts and processes work together to create a healthy body. How does the body accomplish the marvel of health? We will look further into the Self-Referral of the human body. And soon we will look beyond that - and learn how to move toward Maximum Health! Remember - hold fast, stand firm, and persevere!