PRENATAL AND PERINATAL EDUCATION SERIES - ARTICLE 6
CULTURAL IMPACT OF PRENATAL AWARENESS
- Shivakumar Belavadi, PPNE, Bangalore, India
TOPIC - In your own words, name why this early period, if done with support and
consciousness, can lay the groundwork for peace and love OR if done without
consciousness, can be the foundation for a violent culture.
Human
journey is fascinating. But it is not fully understood or appreciated. The
beginnings are in the realm of spirit, but the enactment in the world of
humans. I shall attempt a simple construct in developing this model.
Consciousness, Awareness, Knowledge and Purpose
Human
form descends from the Spiritual domain. This is alluded to often as the Spirit
World, Pure Energy, Abstract Intelligence or Universal Consciousness. In the
world of Pre and Perinatal Psychology, senior practitioners like Thomas Verny, William
Emerson, Ray Castellino and Wendy McCarty have reckoned this as an absolute ingredient
and made this a part of their practice. This is generally acknowledged and accepted
in evolved circles.
Universal
Consciousness or Pure Energy emerges as Human Beings. In the primal form within
the Human Domain, it is full of and brims out as Love, Empathy, Care and
Compassion. These in turn present themselves as Innate Social Tendency. Apart
from making social contact a foundation of human life, this factor gives
meaning and purpose to human existence.
Origins of Human Life Patterns
The way
an individual child is introduced and exposed to the world is through the
funnel of Parental Knowledge, Behaviour, Transactions and Experience. The child in the embryonic and foetal states
takes is fully sentient and takes in inputs from the parents. So what
parents do and how they interact with others – interse between themselves or the family, society and the world is
completely absorbed by the child in the womb. The reinforcement of these
happens from the time of birth to the early period of life including Infancy. Thus the blueprint of what to follow in life
as a human being is made out by Prenatal, Perinatal and Infancy Experiences.
It is
hence evident that a child closely follows and takes up the Physical, Emotional/Feelings
and Psychic patterns of mother and father. These get reinforced in society as
the child grows and adapts into the real world. Hence what is ingrained into the
baby, reflects in the course of life. What you sow is what you reap !
Role of Parents, Family and Society in the formative phase
The
close family – parents / care givers and society have a vital role to play in
the development of the child. They reflect
their awareness, understanding and consciousness into a child during the
formative phase. Hence prenatal and perinatal bonding, attachment and healthy
relationships built on awareness and consciousness is what makes the process of
parenting a powerful phenomenon. This is
at the root of a family and social structure. Such knowledge is essential
for parents, caregivers and members of civil society.
Parental and Societal Support and Influences in the course
of Life.
As the
child grows it needs support and appropriate nurture. A child is innately social and is a learner. Learning is a natural
occurrence. But there is an implicit duty of parents and society in teaching a
child of how to learn and explore. But
for that - A parent in turn has to be first empowered! Society in turn has to
support such empowerment.
If you
are a loving person and you teach a child to love - the child loves. So it goes
with compassion and care. Teaching has to be at all levels – Body (touch, holding,
playing), Emotions (feelings, pain/pleasure, ups and downs) and Mind
(perception of good/bad, values and ethics) . Give a child well rounded inputs and engagements so that it grows into
a good human being – loved and giving out love; wanted and hence wants to give unto
others!
If
proper nurturing is not done with consciousness from the roots, the child
develops without proper bonding or attachment. Without consciousness of who I am as a parent,
who the child is, how we transact with each other and how we all link up in
society and the world, as the child
grows up the world becomes a terrible place to live and express oneself in.
This could lead to the child growing up
with a sense of ambivalence, loss or abandonment. It makes the child vulnerable
and predisposes the child towards violence and aggression.
The
core reflects the foundation or the roots of existence and its final
manifestation as either Harmony, Peace, Love or Symmetry on the one hand Or on the other hand as Discord, Violence,
Aggression or Asymmetry. This may appear
to be a simplistic construct. There may be other contributory factors and finer
aspects to be reckoned.
