Game of God, Part 3: Toward Understanding God
Easter is a time of rebirth and, more specifically, the Resurrection. Over the course of a lifetime, we die to many things only to be reborn or resurrected into others. It starts from the moment we emerge as an infant into our mother’s arms.
Easter is a time of rebirth and, more specifically, the Resurrection. Over the course of a lifetime, we die to many things only to be reborn or resurrected into others. It starts from the moment we emerge as an infant into our mother’s arms.
The following is a wonderful metaphor that seems to have been adapted and circulated around the internet for some time, getting better with each adaptation. And, please note that despite the opening reference to babies in the womb, this has nothing to do with abortion, politics, child rearing or healthcare. It is a metaphor for our relationship to God. Therefore, be sure to read to its surprising conclusion.
A compelling discussion
In a mother’s womb were two babies. One asked the other, “Do you believe in life after delivery?”
The other replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.”
“Nonsense,” said the first. “There is no life after delivery. What kind of life would that be?”
The second said, “I don’t know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths. Maybe we will have other senses that we can’t understand now.”
The first replied, “That is absurd. Walking is impossible. And eating with our mouths? Ridiculous! The umbilical cord supplies nutrition and everything we need.”
The second came back, “But the umbilical cord is so short. Maybe we won’t need it anymore? We could be free of the limitations of this intra-uterine world we currently inhabit.”
But the first went on. “Life after delivery is to be logically excluded.”
The second insisted, “Well I think there is something, and maybe it’s different than it is here.”
The first replied, “Nonsense. If there is life, then why has no one ever come back from there? Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery, there is nothing but darkness and silence and oblivion.”
“Well, I don’t know,” said the second, “but certainly we will meet Mother and she will take care of us.”
The first replied, “Mother! You actually believe in Mother? That’s laughable. If Mother exists, then where is she now?”
The second said, “She is all around us. We are surround-ed by her. We are of her. It is in her that we live. Without her, this world we live in would not and could not exist.” The first retorted, “Well I don’t see her, so it is only logical that she doesn’t exist.”
“Sometimes,” the second replied, “when you’re in silence and you focus and listen, you can perceive her presence, and you can hear her loving voice, calling down from above. Even though we are in this comfortable, cushy world that she has given us. I can’t wait to be with her, to see her face-to-face, in the after-delivery.”
Born again each Easter
When Easter arrives we burst forth into the joy of the season and out of the restrictions of Lent. During Lent we die to our old ways, while on Easter we are born again, eager to rise into a new life. Nurtured by the 40-day spiritual gestation period we just completed, we emerge into the loving arms of our Redeemer.
Thomas Dorsel, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of psychology and a graduate of the University of Notre Dame. He lives on Hilton Head Island with his wife Sue and is a parishioner at St. Francis by the Sea Church. Visit him at dorsel.com.
