Midi-Chlorians anyone?

One has to be careful drawing deep theological or philosophical inferences from pop culture but sometimes they can be useful for purposes of illustration. Last week I alluded to the human body as a Lamborghini sports car. I can defend that analogy but to those who would take from this that I subscribe to a mechanistic view of life- that we are nothing more than very sophisticated biological machines- I would like to say emphatically that this is not the case.

The long running popular movie serial, Star Wars, repeatedly references “the force”, a nebulous, all encompassing field of energy that envelopes the universe and imbues all living things with life and vitality. Tapping into this force can actually give certain individuals nearly superhuman capabilities. In the first installment of the second series of three movies, The Phantom Menace, we are introduced to midi-chlorians, microscopic life forms that reside symbiotically in living cells and mediate “the force” within humans. The concentration of these midi-chlorians is directly tied to the strength of the force and its expression in the life of the individual.

Is there a real life version of midi-chlorians? Not really. The closest we come is the concept of endosymbiosis. The simple explanation of this concept is that it theorizes that many of the structures in our cells were once independent organisms that, over time, became assimilated by primitive cells and formed the various parts of the modern cell. An example is the mitochondria, which basically serve as the power source for the living cell, and have some characteristics that suggest they once were independent primitive organisms. The verdict on this theory is out and it is not widely accepted among scientists.

Even if there aren’t midi-chlorians, what is this life force that gives us vitality and the ability to think, reason, love, question, i.e. to be who we are? Let’s start at the smallest unit of life as we know it, the cell. Our bodies are made up of billions of them, each with its own life and vitality. They die by the millions every day as we go about our daily routine but they don’t change who we are. Cells aggregate to form tissues- skin, muscle, bone, nerve, etc. Related tissues join to form organs and organ systems. We can lose major portions of these through accidents or disease without changing the essence of who we are, or diminishing our vitality.  A great example of this is Max Cleland, a multiple amputee (both legs, one arm) from the Vietnam War whose inspirational postwar career includes terms as a U.S. Senator, Secretary of the State of Georgia, Administrator for Veteran’s Affairs, and, currently, Secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission. 

 

Where does this life force, this essence of our identity, come into play? Alas, modern science has no idea. Despite splitting the atom, traveling through space, and solving many of nature’s mysteries, we are no closer to answering this question now than the thinkers and philosophers of ancient times. Within each of us resides a “breath of life”. When it is gone, our body becomes an empty physical shell. We can choose to believe it comes from the nature of matter and physical processes, i.e. we are just biological machines, or through divine gifting. I choose the latter. How we choose will determine nothing less than how we live our lives.

Training log: This week, after 4 back to back days of running last week, I decided to cut back a little. My neuropathy in my feet (more on that later) has been a little more bothersome and, although I don’t think running caused it, it does seem to aggravate it at times. I did do my first “brick”, a bike/run, although a light one. Right now, I am still working on putting together a training plan which I hope to have in place by early next year. I think the hardest part is going to be getting organized as this is not my nature.

Training summary:

Swimming- none

Running- Saturday, 3.5 miles at 8:41 min/mi pace (this after riding my bike, see below)

Bike- Saturday, 18.2 miles at 14.8 mph average