I think this is beautiful too. It’s a lovely conversation between the polar opposite twins and a pretty interesting place for philosophical discourse.
But I also appreciated the gentle unfolding in this little parable of the presence and power of Mother. There is a kind of deep reverence here I seldom hear of these days for Mother. It triggered a lot of thoughts regarding my own experience of mothering, which affected pretty much all aspects of my life, physical, metaphysical, philosophical and political. which I feel compelled to share. But, I can cut to the chase and say, the short answer is Yes, I believe in Mother…
What follows is the more involved response your little submission stirred up.
I chose to be a mother…
Becoming a mother was the single most important decision of my life. In addition to the wonder and marvel of actually giving birth to these children, it became the catalyst for my education, my link to ancestors and the future, all my future political and social action and my prime connection to God. I know from the comments on this site the Women’s movement doesn’t have many fans here, and I must say, over the years, as my own research progressed my eyes were open to the occulted means of managing the social and cultural actions of women, young and old, which directly affected the health of my generation, usually at cross purposes to any benefit for families, and that those same means were responsible for the deaths of so many… we were played.
But at the time I was choosing to mother however, I was not aware of the sinister bigger picture all the social hubbub was forging.
When my husband and I decided to have children I believed there should never, ever be a single child born unwanted. I saw myself as a part of the first generation able to control when and if to become a parent. It was a sacred choice I was making, one unavailable to my mother, grandmothers and great grandmothers, many of whom had babies until their husbands died and struggled to raise 8 or 9 children alone. I was blessed with two beautiful sons. Everything I did after their births was always undertaken to make the world a better place for them, and by extension, everyone else who was someone’s child. It was the happiest, the most mindful and satisfying time of my life.
Yet, even as I was discovering the joyous, divine nature of Mother and Child, I also discovered the ways business encroached on the Mystery of Life. Child birth is a normal event, not an illness to be cured. Yet childbirth practices in hospitals were/are designed to make the business of childbirth a profitable event despite, for example, the evidence that all anesthesia given to women in labor, which were then, (and probably still are) classified as experimental, and did, in fact, have a direct and measurable impact on the mental and physical development of babies. Often the truth was told in hushed whispers and covered in the silence of hospitals and OBGYNs, leaving families to mourn, grieve and/or bear a life time of medical expenses for special needs children. Even without tragic consequences druging mother for hours who delivered babies in a drug induced stupor delayed the normal but critical interactions between mother and baby during and after birth.{Please note: I am in no way referring to those cases where mother and baby were in danger and medical intervention was the only recourse. What I am saying is that NORMAL childbirth was lumped into those more critical medical protocols becoming a one-size-fits- all menu, no substitutions allowed or eliminated whether you wanted/needed it or not} So the whole process is doped up, the bond between mother and child delayed and sometimes derailed. It’s an acceptable, and I think wicked, consequence of SOP for the corporate business of 9 - 5 Obstetrics.
I also discovered the corporations responsible for creating baby food and synthetic formulas, which were beautifully advertised as “modern”, genius collaborations between science and big business, were, like their successor Bill Gates, Monsanto , ect, perfectly willing to undermine the best natural resource for nutrition in most third world countries by donating baby baskets. These were distributed by local hospitals to new mothers, which were filled with enough formula to last just long enough to shut down the mother’s production of breast milk. (If the baby does not nurse the milk production decreases and if the substitution of formula continues long enough, the mother’s milk will dry up) Thousands of babies were to parish, because these regions were financially poor. Those unwitting mothers accepting these gifts could not afford to buy a 2-3 year supply of formula and beyond their perky blue and pink ribboned baskets these wealthy corporate donations never offered these women and children a means to buy more cheaply the modern way to nourish babies. They let them die. They knew full well many poor communities did not have access to clean water sources… Nonetheless these polluted water supplies were used, contaminating the formula, which mothers would also dilute to make it last longer. Those babies starved. The natural suppression of ovulation which occurs when a mother continuously breast feeds was nullified and birth rates increased, and those babies died too.
Where I lived, these companies did the same thing in both the public and private hospitals. Mercifully our water supply was healthier than third world countries, and by the time I was having children, my generation had been fed by “modern” mothers, most of whom (mine included) bottle fed us. But a radical segment chosesto breastfeed ismply b ecause itm adaemore sense and, we had just enough financial privilege that we could afford stay home… It was odd to find myself often denigrated as crazy and/or having been sucked into some heathen/ primitive/hippy/liberal mindset and many were quite vocal about breastfeeding being just plain disgusting to have to witness. Even if you did power thru the ridicule most doctors felt 3 months was sufficient. Of course if you were a working mother, you were lucky to make it 6 weeks. I could rant on about vaccinations too, but I think I’ve gone far enough down this rabbit hole.
I share this because your little thought experiment triggered me. I realize now that those glorious experiences with mothering were daily juxtaposed with irrational and counter productive actions by the health care industry, drug companies, producers of baby food, plus the personal affront and criticism of my mothering by family, sometimes friends and even strangers, who felt the need to share their 2 cents. These were actually the beginnings, the first, and very personal places I was confronted with agendas other than those I considered to be beneficial to humanity in general, and my babies in particular. It wasn’t the Vietnam War, Civil Rights, the murder of our leaders in front of my own eyes .that spurred me to take action. It was the choices I made for the welfare of my children. It was a no brainer as far as I was concerned. In my innocence, the only rationale I could discern for all that this interference with the natural, God-given mechanisms for ensuring the optimum survival of my babies, and everyone else’s, was that greed had trumped nature. . But what it’s taken me decades to see is that culture, religions, corporations, day care centers, “schools” and those who control all that, have wrestled the mystery and sacredness out of mothering, motherhood and the concept of Mother. Our mothers still love their children, but they and their children are functioning in a rigid, unforgiving environment which minimizes the quality and amount of time they are together, poisons and modifies their minds, bodies and spirits with everything that touches them. The cost of living has short changed our children of their parent’s attention.
This has been deliberate and by design.
By interfering with that first eye contact, the scent of each other, the physical contact and nurturing with mother, by preventing 1-3 years of close physical proximity with mother, a child is unprepared for relationships with others. At mother’s breast a child experiences Love, security, nourishment and oneness. A bond, grown while in mother’s arms, over the short time of babyhood and early childhood will be the foundation for every other relationship in the life of that child, and even, as Pearson says in the “Magical Child”, a child’s timely ability to bond with the Earth, and I would add, with God. . I am not talking about the often syrupy, sentimental Hallmark Card image of mothers, motherhood, Mother…I’m speaking of THE critical mechanism for the human connection to others and Earth, and God. I no longer wonder why each generation suffers more and more from endemic Narcissism.
Your little text has brought me full circle.
Today, my reactions to all the shocking “medical” intervention being pushed by these now openly hostile cartels, who clearly make no pretense of anything other than foisting their inhuman agenda on all the children of this world, is as exactly the same as I felt 40 years ago. Only then I did not feel my personal choices would put me in peril of losing my income and right to own property, That as a woman, a mother, a grandmother, a former teacher I could be villainized as a danger to the state and those already stupefied into mindless, lock-step acceptance by whoever holds the microphone. That even the concept of being removed for refusal to comply would ever be articulated in this country. That a huge majority of the population would actually go along with all this is a stunning and firm indicator of just how out of touch with reality I am.
Yep, it’s been a very deep, dark night of the Soul for me these last few weeks. And I confess to a level of fear I have never experienced before. But, just as I was lead by what I believed made sense 40 years ago when I felt no fear in making the choices I made, the same common sense lies at the core of what I believe now, What I saw then was not right for me and mine, and what they want now is still not right for me and mine. I find that danger does not/ has not/can not trump what I know, nor my choice to say no.
Reading this very gentle and I must say timely little submission of yours Cool Hand reminded me of the power of Mother, the presence of which I had the privilege to experience, to be, and now, to rely upon.
Yes, I believe in Mother.
Thank you for the reminder!
Many blessings!
Linda
