Magic of Believing

Like the old commercial, "Is It Real, Or Is It Memorex?"  Or should I say,  wax. 

One of the pictures of Brittany is actually a Wax Figure at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.  Can you tell the difference?  One of my Facebook friends had taken a quiz to see how good they are at spotting the wax fakes.  I thought it would be easy so I plunged right in.  Imagine my surprise to discover that out of 14 figures, I actually missed 2.  I got fooled by a wax figure?  But as you can see, they are very lifelike.  

But as real as these wax figures may appear, even to the point of fooling us in a funny quiz, we know that they are not real.  They have no 'life' inside of them.  They don't move, or breathe, or have a heart that's beating.  They don't think, or feel, or see or smell.  They have no thoughts, no emotions.  They are just 3 dimensional "snapshots" of what the real person happened to look like at the moment. 

Think about that the next time you look in the mirror.  Is that really "you" in the mirror?  Or is it just a 2 dimensional snapshot of what you happen to look like at the moment?  

The great 19th century author, Buckminster Fuller, once said, "99% of who we are is invisible".   Think about that for a moment.

That would mean that it is not our physical appearance that defines who we are, but what's inside of us instead.  If it's just the fact that we have a physical form that makes us real, then that wax figure of Brittany is just as 'real' as the real Brittany.  No, it's all the 'invisible stuff' inside of us that makes us real. 

Our heart beats - but we cannot see it.  We breathe air into our lungs, but we can't see that either.  The sounds we 'hear' are just invisible vibrations.  The images we 'see' are nothing more than light reflections.  Our thoughts, and our beliefs, and opinions, those are all invisible.  Our dreams, our excitement, our hope, that is all invisible.  So in a sense, Mr Fuller was right.  99% of who we are IS invisible. 

But that would mean that our 'physical form' - or our body - only amounts to 1% of the 'real' us. 

So why do we place so much emphasis on that tiny, little 1%? 

What it looks like, what clothes it wears, what color makeup, style of hair, tattoos, piercings, etc it has.  How fit it is, or how fat it is.  How sexy it is, or how ugly it is.  Brings a whole new meaning to the saying, "Beauty is only skin deep" doesn't it?   One of my young co-workers once asked me, "What kind of car do you think I would look best in?"  I could not believe my ears.  What?!?!  ....look best in?  What about price, or gas mileage, or dependability, or safety records?  No - which one will I 'look best' in.  

Why do we place so much emphasis on the "outside" of us, when the real "us", the 99% of who we really are, is on the inside?  And invisible?  And even more importantly, what would happen if we DID place more emphasis on the invisible us.  Could it be, dare we think, that just maybe - maybe - it's the 99% of 'us' on the 'inside' - that actually controls that little, tiny 1% of us we seem to care so much about?

Oh my.  That would mean we have total control over our bodies.  Are we up for it?