Gender of Nature: Mother Earth :: Essays Papers

Gender of Nature: Mother Earth â€Å"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the wind longs to play with your hair.† -The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran There is no voice more comforting than Mama’s. In the womb we are suspended in safe warmth, hearing every noise that Mama makes. And we don’t just hear her voice. We feel its vibrations, its muffled hum, through our ears and our entire forming bodies. It’s no wonder that that is often the only voice that can comfort us in the distress of our new little lives. Yet, what of the mother who cannot speak? Can she still comfort her baby? Yes, because it is much more than vocal chords that connect a baby with its birth mother. After all, Baby eats all that Mama eats, breathes Mama’s air, knows Mama’s way of moving and laughing†¦Baby feels every surge of adrenaline that Mama feels. Bonds don’t get more intimate than that. Even after Baby is born, this bond is strengthened through long bouts of staring into each other’s eyes, through feeling the lulling rhythm of Mama’s breathing while sleeping against her chest, through time spent together saturated in touch and play. This phenomenon of intimacy is so powerful that it surpasses any blindness or handicap Mama could possibly have. Not only do we all have this precious connection with our Mama’s, we also have a strong, and similar, connection with Earth. Philosopher, Roger S. Gottlieb, tells plainly of our connection with Earth, saying, â€Å"We all live and breathe and drink the water and receive the food from the soil†¦Ã¢â‚¬  We are dependent on Earth, like infants depend on Mama, for life itself. It daily sustains us, in body, as well as in spirit. It is a tragedy that we have lost sight of our connection with Earth. In his book, Vocation: Discerning Our Callings in Life, Douglass Schuurman says, â€Å"Some dullards have no curiosity or sense of wonder at the harmony and beauty of creation; others have had it drummed out of them by suffering or deadening educational systems. But traces of the sense of wonder and the quest for meaning survive in most human beings. (65)† Perhaps it can be said that some dullardshave no curiosity or sense of wonder at the harmony and beauty of their Mama, the one in whom their life began.