People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.
—St. Augustine

I came across this quote a few weeks ago, and it has stayed with me. How seldom we acknowledge the wonder of ourselves—our bodies, our minds, our possibilities.

It’s a wonder that we even exist. How likely is it that the two half-cells that begin us even find each other? The systems that make up both parents have to be working correctly in so many ways and on so many levels. The first days of our being are spent as globs of undifferentiated cells, that nine months or so and thousands of intricately timed chemical changes later, transform into a functioning baby. (Did you know that an option in fertility treatment is to withdraw a cell from a few-days old baby and screen for the most prevalent birth defects? The cells continue to divide and grow without anything missing at birth.) The dance of birth between mother and emerging child takes lots and lots of coordination that, for the most part, has been repeated billions of times throughout history with successful conclusion. The miracle of the newborn continues as years go by and the totally helpless becomes, hopefully, self-sufficient. Isn’t it amazing that teeth come in, bones harden, muscles grow, and crawling and walking happen along such a similar path all over the world?

Even adult bodies are a wonder. Everyday our bodies hum along despite our neglect of them. The food we eat gets processed. Unseen invaders are vanquished. Internal temperature is maintained. Our brains process millions of pieces of input that we’re not even aware of. How unbelievable is it that our hearts beat months before we are born and continue year in and year out until we die? There are hearts on the planet right now that have been beating continuously for over a hundred years.

The above speaks only to the physical aspect of our experience. Though most of time we live with ideas of limitation, there are hints now and again of more. Women have lifted cars off their children. Children’s brains, half removed in cancer treatment, grow to compensate for what was lost. Patients given no chance of recovery rise from their deathbeds and continue to live normal, although usually more fulfilling, lives.

In this era of non-stop drug ads and tips for remaining eternally young, we get sucked into thinking that we are essentially flawed. But the truth of us, like the rest of the universe, is that we are a part of a vast creative intelligence, one that keeps order in a hugely complex, always evolving system. Yes, the mountains, seas, and stars deserve our awe, but we sell ourselves short to think that we’re in any way lesser creations than these. Most of us agree that we have attained only a portion of our true potential. Aren’t we likely to be more if we appreciate what we already are?