Planetary Birth

Birth typically is messy, scary, exciting, and painful.  After a long period of  pregnancy, an enormous, critically important, life changing event occurs in a very short period of time.  It's  primitive and intimate.  It's awesome.  It's a time when the process typically goes well, but sometimes not.  It's important to be patient, alert, responsive.  It's a time for helpers to stay out of the way and let nature take its course, and be ready to act quickly if intervention is needed, and do just what is needed, not more and not less.  The author's use of the birth metaphor to describe the human condition is appropro.  The critical issue is what sort of birth will happen.  On the one hand, given what mother earth has eaten and suffered, the baby could be a sick fetal pollution syndrome baby, and could die or have all sorts of health problems.  On the other hand, human life is very resilient and the baby may be very healthy.  All in all, the birth metaphor strikes me as hopeful, and I prefer to go with the hope, as any parent does.  I like it.  I think we bring such an attitude to all that we are creating by appreciating that the birth metaphor is occurring ongoingly, in big and small matters, if we are aware of it or not.  I think of ee cummings, "We can never be born enough."  The birth of my awareness that all is one and all is sacred was/is sacred for me, was life changing, and I am deeply grateful for it.