YOU MUST BE BORN

Once upon a time two twins were conceived in the womb. The months went by and the one turned to the other and said: “We are changing, what do you think it means?”

“It means that we are getting close to being born,” said the other.

The one turned to the other and said, “What do you think, might there be life after birth?”

“Yes I think so,” said the other. “Our existence here is so that we can grow and develop in order to prepare ourselves for life after birth, so that we will be strong enough for that life.”

“Please, how can there be life after birth?” cried the one. “What would it look like?”

“Well, I’m not sure,” said the other. “But surely it will be much brighter than it is in here. And maybe we will walk around and feed ourselves through our mouths.”

“Walk around? Such nonsense. And eating with your mouth - what a ridiculous idea. We get our nourishment through our umbilical cord, not so? Besides which, even if we could walk, we couldn’t get very far - that cord is already so short! No, I think that all that exists is what we can see and hear and feel here - there is no life beyond that.”

“Well, I can’t prove it, but I still think that there is life after birth - it will just be, well, a little different from here.”

“Have you ever talked to one who has been born?” said the other. “Has anyone ever re-entered the womb after birth? With birth, our life ends. That’s it! Life in here is just dark and tormenting and has no meaning. It is just a chance event and we must make of it what we can while we are here.” And he fell into despair and moaned: “Oh, if the purpose of conception and all our growth is that it ends in birth, then truly our life is absurd!”

The other tried to cheer him up. “Although I don’t know what life after birth will look like, surely we will meet our mother then and she will take care of us.”

“Mother? Mother? You believe in the existence of a mother?”

“But, there must be a mother. I mean, who else gave us nourishment and protected us and our world?”

“WE get our own nourishment, and our world has always been here. And if there is a mother, where is she? Have you ever seen her? Does she ever talk to you? NO! WE invented the mother because it satisfied a need in us. It made us feel secure and happy.”

“No, I’m sure you are wrong. She is here, all around us. We live by her and in her. Without her we could not even exist!”

“Nonsense, I have never noticed anything of ‘a mother’. So she does not exist at all.”

“Yet,” said the other, “sometimes when we are quiet, you may hear her sing for us. Or feel how she caresses our world.”

(Written by a Medical embryologist from the Academisch University of Maastricht.)

Bernard Preston's own blog. Start with Ladders...

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