Experiencing Body Worlds 3

The exhibition at the Houston Museum of Science, Body Worlds 3, definitely gave new meaning to the notion that humans must look inside themselves to get a sense of what makes them tick.

I found the whole experience a bit overwhelming. There was too much to absorb in one pass through the exhibition hall. In glass case after glass case, the exhibition explored the marvelous intricacies of the human body from the head to the feet and from outside in and inside out. And then there were the plasticized bodies which presented specific aspects of the human body in the most imaginative of ways.

I came away from this place with a much keener appreciation that the human body is an amazing piece of truly complex engineering. For instance, the hand is a wonderfully designed structure which contains something like 25 or 26 bones, ligaments, tendons and muscles which create one of the signature characteristics of the human body. The hand contains a dense network of blood vessels that keep it supplied. This specific aspect of the human body has enabled man to become a builder and a creator.

In the exhibit, one moves from a section on the skeletal structure to a section on the nervous system. From there one explores the realms of the brain and the circulatory system, with its sturdy pump, the heart. Then there is the skin and the digestive tract. Did you know that the colon, is over 30 feet long. And one must not forget the reproductive organs, sex being such a big deal in the American psyche. Somehow, all these diverse parts fit together to form a human being that walks and breaths and lives.

As I was leaving the exhibit, I was struggling to find some words to express what I was feeling. Frankly, at that moment, I wasn't sure what to feel, because I could not immediately absorb the totality of what I had just seen and experienced. I could not immediately understand what all this information should mean to me or have any sure sense of its significance.

But then, I recalled another aspect of the exhibit. In each of the major sections of the show, healthy tissue was set alongside samples of tissue that were damaged or diseased. A healthy liver was displayed with one which had developed cirrosis of the liver, a result of alcohol abuse. Healthy lungs stood in sharp contrast to the darkened lungs of smokers. A human hip structure showed the ravages of time. As a viewer of these anatomical wonders, I was reminded that our bodies can be severely impacted by disease and that the body is a gift that should not be taken for granted or abused. Figuratively, as creatures, we are not bullet-proof.

Large cloth panels hung from the ceiling. These panels contained wonderful quotations which gave us a perspective on what we were seeing before us. One especially stuck in my mind.

"Anatomical dissection gives the human mind an opportunity to compare the dead with the living, things severed with things intact, things destroyed with things evolving, and opens up the profoundness of nature to us more than any other endeavor or consideration. "
Johann wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), German Poet

I have come away from Body Worlds 3 with a true sense of awe when I consider the human body, now. The human body is something truly amazing in its design. I have this sense that with regard to my own body, I have been given a treasure and that I have been assigned the responsibility to protect and maintain that treasure. There is also an admonition that if I do not or if I foolishly abuse this body in some way, I will pay a fearful price.

Maybe this is exactly what the imaginative individuals, who envisioned this exhibit and who made it a reality, were trying to do. In an age in which there are a thousand different ways to willingly or intentionly damage or injure the human body, that seems to be a definitely worthy objective. Please understand that the human figures presented in many different situations were in their own way entertaining. However, Body Worlds 3 had a more serious purpose than just to entertain. It succeeded at every level.