I’m thinking of the newborn premature baby, two months early delivered into this world screaming. My cousin tells me that the nurse tells her this child has just had ‘sadmet hayeta’ the shock of her lifetime. None of us ask to come into this world, and yet our soul arrives, containing a world of lifetimes and DNA strands before it. We arrive with an inheritance of things we do not yet know, built into our being. We will not always be ready for what awaits us, but it will be there. We will be faced with options and choices, responsibilities and obligations. There is vulnerability in all these steps.
This premature baby is one kind of vulnerable. She cannot communicate beyond screams, and she should have had two more months to develop bulk and girth in a womb. She has no muscle mass, no innate ability to move her elbows or wiggle her fingers. Instead she has arrived amongst us mortals already existing with our flailing arms, wobbly legs, flying thoughts, unstable beings.
My cousins’ job is to practice gentleness with this baby, who can fit into the palm of her hand at the moment. There are massages and delicate movements she uses with this child, to build up her arm strength, get the muscles moving, and practice what it means to use force, create heat, and in turn, ask for more food to nourish her body.
When our body screams. When our mind screams. When the earth screams.
What gentleness are we practicing in our own motions.
What gentleness are we met with in return.
The power of gentleness is proven by the amazing work of art the water creates in the most stubborn rocks along the years... 💖