A Mother's fierce love

I've been driven into a rest-only state by a weird inner ear virus that has given me vertigo and intense dizziness. I haven't been able to do much, but after the first few days, I have been able to read. For light reading, I enjoy mysteries. And sometimes I also discover meaning and wisdom there.

I just finished Mother Nature by geologist Sarah Andrews. At the end of the well crafted story is an "Author's note" about the power of Mother Nature and Sarah's hope for our eventual understanding and love of the great Mother.

"I find that California's geology follows a negative female archetype in its personality: She is capricious, moody, given to fires and floods and earthquakes, entirely too ready to rid herself of the humans who persist in building along her shores and valleys. She is the very image of the Hindu goddess Kali, as viewed through the lens of Western patriarchal cultures.... I find it interesting that Kali is viewed so differently by cultures older than ours. She is indeed considered ferocious, but not disenfranchised from her anger as are women in our society. Her anger rises naturally as she moves to crush that which threatens her children..."

"I dream a dream for my generation, a mother's dream. I dream that we are learning to raise our sons and daughters with Kali's ferocious love, not stunting their growth with toxins born of our disappointment and impacted anger. Our daughters will grow up strong, directing their passions in mature ways, neither scorned for their anger nor shamed for their desires, ready and able to use these energies to birth an even better world in the generation to follow. And our sons will grow up knowing how to grow, delighted by the strength of their sisters and their wives-to-be, responsible for all their acts and feelings, mature and wise and strong."

"It is a fine dream. In it we find the humility to admit our shortcoming in the way we've been treating our Mother. On waking, we embrace our limits and her vastness, and learn to live in harmony with the natural laws of her love."

Yes, it is a fine dream!