Spiritual Pregnancy

Tibetan healing practices describe the physical experience as a: ‘continuous interaction between the second body and the dense, material human body’. The second body is often referred to as the astral form, soul or mental body that is intertwined with the physical.

This division is recognised as the subtle material and the gross material organism, spiritual and corporeal forms that run parallel to one another.

According to Tibetan philosophy the bodies coincide at the nerve fibres and blood vessels, winding themselves around each other. This brings a second level to sensation and presence. Aiding the ability to experience spiritual pregnancy and introspection.

As they are so closely linked, physical issues with the body can sometimes be treated through mindfulness and meditation, an engagement with the second body.

Fibromyalgia is a mental condition, more common in women, whereby the brain chemically alters the way nerves and the spinal chord communicate pain signals. Signals are often repeated or distorted, triggered by stress and injury. This often causes pain sensations that are no longer relevant to injured tissue or completely random sensations that spread unnecessarily.

We could view physical sensation as true and mental sensation as false. For me, fibromyalgia acts as a mediator between function and perception.  It makes the judgement of true and false nerve endings difficult but acts as a connection to the second level of sensation.

‘Matriarchal consciousness, or the awareness of the world from the mothers point of view, proceeds from a state of pregnancy or total intersubjectivity.’ (Hall, 1980: 88). Motherhood is a social construct. It is a state of understanding something from a specific position gained from experience. The idea of spiritual pregnancy approaches this experience conceptually. It offers accessibility to motherhood, suggesting that it can be achieved through a state of mind, similar to the physical simulation through melting iron.

Socrates discusses the notion of spiritual pregnancy from the position of the teacher. The principle relates to Socrates’s mother being a midwife. Through his ‘Midwife Metaphor’, Socrates aligns himself with this position of control, adopting the matriarchal practice. He cares for ‘the souls of pregnant young men’ who are experiencing spiritual pregnancy (Futter, 2018). He helps them to ‘bring their ideas and theories to a healthy birth’  essentially to deliver knowledge from the mind or soul (Futter, 2018). This is articulated by attributing factors of physical pregnancy to spiritual experience. Conceiving, carrying, labouring. ‘To conceive an idea is to begin to understand it.’ (Hall, 1980 : 94). Hall suggests that ideas are nurtured through receptive listening and pregnant silence. A thoughtful time period of incubation whilst ideas are gestated to full potential. Pregnancy and melting metal both have a semblance to potential. The period of growth before the crux of parturition. Hall refers to these as feminine modes of consciousness.

The Midwife Metaphor approaches the experience of pregnancy from the male perspective. But also from women who cannot access childbirth, it could be argued their perspective is also male. The experience encompasses aspects of the feminine principle and motherhood, and therefore the female condition.

There are parallels between the birth of knowledge and the male role in Cartesian dichotomy; the mind. It seems intelligible that the male reach for pregnancy would be through this avenue. ‘Patriarchal timing is quantitative, measuring space in equal sections. Matriarchal timing is qualitative, subjective, experiencing the length of the moment according to feelings’ (Hall, 1980: 97). Both of these methods of experiencing birth retain their validity, they just originate from slightly different positions that conform to traditional expectations of gender.

If we use the midwife metaphor as a way to produce knowledge and ideas we have to consider the artist’s role. Art is another method to realise ideas. Artists constantly experience spiritual pregnancy through their creative mindset. Iron casting from the artist’s perspective becomes even more purposeful, adding further levels of understanding and experience to this reproductive paradigm.