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Plurality of the Individual
As the result of such differentiation, the pluricellular organism, as it comes ultimately to be evolved, is composed of many different kinds of cells. Each has its special function. Each has its field of labor. Each lives its own individual life. Each reproduces its own kind. Yet all are bound together as elements of the same “cell society” or organized “cell state.”
Among pluricellular organisms man is of course supreme. He is the one form of animal life that is most highly differentiated.
Combined Consciousness of the Millions
Knowing what you now know of microscopic anatomy, you cannot hold to the simple idea that the human body is a single life-unit. This is the naive belief that is everywhere current among men today. Inquire among your own friends and acquaintances and you will find that not one in a thousand realizes that he is, to put it jocularly, singularly plural, that he is in fact an assemblage of individuals.
Not only is the living human body as a whole alive, but “every part of it as large as a pin-point is alive, with a separate and independent life all its own; every part of the brain, lungs, heart, muscles, fat and skin.” No man ever has or ever can count the number of these parts or cells, some of which are so minute that it would take thousands in a row to reach an inch.
“Feeling” or “consciousness” is the sum total of the feelings and consciousness of millions of cells, just as an orchestral harmony is a composite of the sounds of all the individual instruments.
By: Warren Hilton
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