'The human body grows a new stomach lining every five days. The average lifespan of a taste bud is ten days. The body grows a completely new skin every four weeks. The liver is replaced every six weeks. The human skeleton is replaced every three months.'I just read this on the BBC website and was utterly surprised. I wouldn't have shared it without the venerated source, but... really? We replace our skeleton every three months? I'm gobsmacked. It is simply amazing to think we are constantly changing at a deep cellular level. At least physically.
The question is whether we do it mentally. My friend Simon Larcey is convinced we are fundamentally the same throughout our lives. He thinks we have a kind of 'spiritual DNA'. So our innate level of charity or ambition, for instance, is hard-wired at birth. Simon suggests the circumstances of life simply provide a foil for a particular trait to display its depth. For instance, he accepts that a personal failure might provide the environment to exhibit one's personal level of determination. But it was always there.
It's a clever argument. I think he's right.
As James Allen and Proverbs would teach us, "as a man thinketh, so is he." It's an utterly amazing idea. When I was four years old, I had my first Damascene moment. I stood on a six-foot hay-bale and knew, just knew, that the secret to flying was simply believing you could fly. I also knew, just knew, that as a four-year old I was uniquely qualified to believe I could fly. Silly adults couldn't believe it. But I could. So I jumped. And I flew. Yes, I flew. It may not have been for very long, but I remember it clearly.
I don't remember landing, but I must have landed as I broke my collarbone.
Despite this early success, my mind's power to change the laws of physics remains limited. Fortunately, my mind's power to change my context, its ability to focus its perspective and the potential for these to help me fly mentally seem unlimited.
I think perhaps what Simon has yet to appreciate is that we have all-of-it within us. I think we share the capacity for boundless love and merciless cruelty... at least at birth. So he's right. Wherever we are in our journey, we had it in us all along. If we're down, it was always there. If we're inspired, it was always there. And if we choose to have an insight, if we choose to change our minds, if we choose to believe we can fundamentally grow and change as a person, it was always there.
There's another area of this thought I wonder if Simon has considered. It seems to me his view perceives tragedy as a possibility that might bring out a set of traits. IF you have this disaster, THEN you'll discover your level of courage or patience (or whatever trait you discover). I think he's right again. It's just that everyone has calamity. We are guaranteed heartache. It's not if. It's not when. It's when next? And the response one chooses has these wonderful opportunities to develop. Viktor Frankl said, "When we are no longer able to change the situation, we are challenged to change ourselves."
So at both a physical and mental level, you're developing today. You may or may not be developing in a healthy way. Regardless, a completely new you, at the cellular level, is being created today. Just how are those energies being directed? If it takes 3 months to replace your skeleton, how long does it take to replace your mind?
