Our dependence then in all its variety shows us, if we care or dare to admit, our weakness and limitations, but also our immense potential. Compassion grows from accepting our needs and responsiveness to others flower in its soil. Still, seen from a competitive world, it must seem childish, naive or worse, a neurotic longing for a lost innocence and an all embracing protection. A need for wombs, indeed! I deserve condescending pity or ridicule no doubt. Nevertheless, wombs do appear everywhere we care to look: the delicate chrysalis of a caterpillar in which it transforms itself- phoenix-like- into a butterfly or moth, a bird's nest, a tiny seed pregnant with a mighty tree within, the soft embracing flesh of any fruit harboring and protecting its seeds, an egg shell, a bed, a loving supportive family or friendship, the precious hollow of a bowl, even a space ship surrounding, protecting and sustaining the human astronauts inside, and finally Earth herself as Biosphere. The list goes on and on if we learn to see the world in that special way. The "womb" thus emerges for us as a rich metaphor. And yet we don't seem to take much notice most of the time conditioned as we are to perceive ourselves as discrete, walled off little egos, like so many human shaped billiard balls living out our lives colliding or avoiding collisions with others!
And so, how do we talk about wombs? What do we mean by the word? We have a strong and clear image: from conception we grow held safely within our mother's body enclosed and nourished and without this temporary nest, our mother's womb, our first true home human beings and our very survival have no meaning. My dictionary defines womb as "the organ in which the young of higher animals are developed, the uterus", "the place where anything is engendered or brought to life", "a cavity enclosing something", and finally "a place of origin and early development." The womb therefore symbolically reaches out to us as a creative, organic process and a sustaining presence. It seems, I would argue, that in a mythic sense life in its differentiated splendor requires wombs as a vital means for its emergence and full expression.
Ashley Montague, a physical anthropologist, points out in his ground breaking book, "Touching: The Human Significance of the Skin", that the human infant requires an extended period of time outside the mother's womb- an "extereogestation"- that mirrors in time and kind the "intereogestation" inside the womb. In this way, the family becomes secondary womb. For nine months or so the human organism unfolds and develops within the protective, nourishing hollow of it's mother's belly to finally come forth, exceedingly vulnerable, into a potentially dangerous environment. The infant needs the womb of the family not only to survive but of achieve its full humanity. Montague felt that this situation allowed for a necessary evolutionary adaptation that resulted in the emergence of Homo Sapiens. Moreover, as we live our lives we encounter challenges, deeper crisis that naturally force us to turn to others for support, the womb of friendship, love, and community to help us through and to grow.
Jean Leidloff, in her wonderful book, "The Continuum Concept", presents similar
insights as Montague and extends them. Her study of the child rearing practices of the Yequana Indians living in the Amazon jungle of Venezuela shows eloquently and powerfully our early need as infants for human touch and continuous contact with significant caregivers. According to Leidloff our entire evolutionary history has built into us a deep and intuitive "expectation" for being embraced, held and carried about. Once again we have the ubiquitous presence of the womb-the loving embrace and holding, "kept close to where the life of the family and community is."
The full flowering of our personhood and humanity depends then intimately on our recognition of our need for support in its various degrees and kinds. I offer the "womb" as an emergent image and symbol, the core part of a new narrative for this essential truth and guiding theme for our lives. It would bring us closer to a world of mutual support- a truly Earth culture wherein we naturally respect the diversity and integrity of peoples and the natural ecological systems that make up this world. I ought to emphasize that our need for wombs does not mean a sentimental retreat from life and responsibility. In fact, it intensifies it and gives us a richer appreciation of our humanity, something which we must always strive to achieve and too often easily undo. Existence wounds us and yet it brings forth the healing flower of love. We must learn the many ways to cultivate the garden.
And so we may ask ourselves, if we dare: what kind of world do we really want? A gladiatorial arena where only the brutally strong or lucky ones survive or one in which shared effort and a strong cooperative ethic prevails leading to an incredibly beautiful and rich tapestry of talents recognized and nurtured.
Finally, a whole response to the question that arises within us of why we exist leads us to the realization of our dependence upon one another and something larger then ourselves. Such knowledge lays the foundation for compassion, a sacred echo to why we exist in the first place. We come forth; we live, and we die. From out of the womb of our mothers we emerge naked, helpless and in absolute need; the umbilical bond drawn away and for first time separates us from that which fed and held us for so long. In our wisdom we still see the connection there sustaining us and in our moments of honesty and clarity we can humbly admit this. We die indeed, death another more final kind of womb. We have our life; we suffer and hidden within the question lies the answer- love. The umbilicus, the navel, the center of our lives-a nourishing mystery- finally awakens us to our humanity and fullest potential. I can not prove this, but somehow it rings true.
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