The Divine Nature And Our Rebellion From It

Is it possible for any human to stay in direct full-body contact with ice for 2 hours and 45 mins? Is it possible for humans to submerge themselves in ice water? Maybe go take a deep dive in the freezing temperatures of the Arctic Ocean? Is it physically possible for the human body to climb the highest peak in the world — Mount Everest upto 7,400m wearing nothing but shorts

and shoes?

If you are like the majority. By now, you must have said a big fat NO to all these questions.

But what if I told you, that all these incredible feats are not only possible but they have been performed by a 60 year old athlete now who goes by the name of Wim Hof. Wim Hof’s body has defied every limit of withstanding extreme temperatures. He has created higher standards for mental/physical health. Wim Hof or The Iceman proclaimed that he can influence his autonomic nervous system and immune system through the power of his mind. This was also proven by him in a study where he was administered with endotoxin. For those who don’t know, reaction to endotoxins can lead to anaphylactic shock and death of patients.It is a bacteria which produces inflammation and fever as an immune system response. The research paper cites,

“Hardly any flu-like symptoms were observed. These results are definitely remarkable”

For years, People looked up to the Iceman as a superhuman from the lucky sperm club (having exceptionary genetics). This belief was also shunned by none other but the iceman himself when he trained a group of dozen volunteers to perform all the same feats he did.

Wim is not lucky, He has found a way to maximize the potential of the human body. The same potential that lies within you and me.

Back to the questions we started with, Yes it is very possible. 

Even if you don’t want to perform the daring feat of wearing shorts on a trip to Everest. What you can do is tap into the same natural principles Wim Hof teaches and use them to your advantage. 

This is something that the human race has come far away from — Our true nature.

If you look at history, whenever the homosapiens have made a revolutionary change for the sake of comfort. Be it the agricultural revolution 12,000 years ago or the industrial revolution 360 years ago, we have always encountered problems.

Sure, we have made many positive changes in our society. I am all in for them. But the flip side is also true that we have dug ourselves a hole just because we didn’t care to look at the negative consequences.

You might be saying, Oh, now you have just gone pessimistic. You should be grateful. If it wasn’t for technology, you wouldn’t have been writing through a keyboard!

Again, for the sake of clarity, I am all for revolutionary changes. By no means I want to diss the positive changes it has brought about in human society.

The problem is, It has also played a major role in taking us far away from our true nature.

Let’s look at the agricultural revolution for example. Humans started growing wheat for crops. Started consuming milk for food. About 3500 years ago, the sugar crop spread across the Eastern Pacific and Indian oceans resulting in refined sugar.

Modern science shows that the human body isn’t designed to consume wheat, milk or sugar!!!

Wheat contains a protein called Gluten which induces an immune reaction in the body.

Milk also contains a sugar called lactose which isn’t digestible by the human body! It’s like we don’t have the genetic code nor enough amount of lactase to digest it.

The most harmful of these all is refined sugar which leads to diseases such as type-2 diabetes, depression, dementia, liver disease and even certain types of cancer. Yes, you read it right. CANCER. Sugar is the number one culprit of causing cancer.

If this stuff was so harmful, why did we start eating it?

Only because it was comfortable in the short term. 

When humans lived as hunter-gatherers. There was a certain type of diet pattern set by nature. No hunter-gatherer forefathers sat for a round table talk to discuss what they should eat and what they shouldn’t. Nature didn’t give them enough liberty to do so!

Wheat, milk or refined sugar was nowhere on their food list. The only sugar they had was through fructose present in fruits. Fruits were a rare treat. They were available only in one season round the year. The bottom line is,

                       Nature took care of us in the way we were designed to function.

Intermittent fasting is now a practice which is proven to turn on Autophagy — A process in which your body starts repairing itself. But guess what, in the early years, Fasting was natural. Sometimes, we didn’t have food for days so our bodies would go into repairing mode. There was a purpose to it all.

I don’t feel that there is any phenomena more divine than nature itself. If you think about it, Nature has been there from the start of time and will be there in the end too. It has been going on for 13.8 billion years. It has found a way to fuse hydrogen atoms into helium, helium into carbon. It has made stars which baked the elementary particles. The same elements which in turn made your body, mine too. It made this giant piece of rock called Earth. Then it made creatures which humm, chirp, roar and meow. It has also made creatures who play with sound in such a way that it carries information. Then those creatures figured out how to put together a giant piece of metal and fly to the moon!. If you are reading this. Congratulations, you are one of the smart ones!

As we humans have progressed. We have made remarkable external revolutions. But we have also neglected being in harmony with our nature.

The true nature of our physical body is health, the mental body (mind) is peace, and the spiritual body is bliss/joy.

How many of us modern humans experience this nature at any level? 

Look around and you’ll see. Just a handful.

Yes, it’s true that nature also installs dangers in our environments. A saber tooth tiger is a life threatening danger put there by nature. However, isn’t it also true that the defense fight or flight mechanism in us is also installed by design? 

Shall we then go to the ancient ways of our great forefathers? Wouldn’t that be neglecting thousands of years of progress & development?

The thing is, We don’t need to!

Evolution is a natural process. There’s a general underlying rule in nature which states,

‘Everything in this universe must either grow or die’

The purpose of this argument is not to disregard the idea of growth. It’s quite the opposite. The purpose is understanding that real growth is progressive. That is to say, it builds upon one another. You wouldn’t go for a PhD and in turn forget everything you learned in elementary school. You will never graduate.

Such is the human dilemma.

Everytime we have made ‘comfort’ revolutions. We tend to forget the basic design we were built upon.

The result? We live in the most abundant time in the history of the world but we are also some of the most unhealthy, depressed and empty people. We have sabotaged ourselves.

Our light out of this tunnel is in the personal effort we can make towards uncovering our true nature and maximizing our potential.

It sounds like a big goal but it all starts with one step: Awareness.

Becoming aware of who we really are on all levels is the key here.

Cheers to Awareness! “Where if anywhere — do our actual limits lie?” — Steven Kotler