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The integral approach to education views nature as one whole. Nature has complete control over its still, vegetative, and animate levels, and they thus instinctively maintain a system of mutuality and complementarity. For us people, nature has left room for conscious development. In other words, we possess the ability to clarify for ourselves what kind of relationships we want to maintain among us. At our developmental peak, we will arrive at the recognition that our optimal condition is one where we adapt ourselves to the unity of nature. What does this mean? It means connecting with each other in full integration, up to the level of loving, kind, and caring connections. This will elevate the human species to the next degree of existence, in which we will feel ourselves “as one man with one heart.” With this big picture in mind, let us focus on the pregnant woman.
When a woman becomes pregnant, she receives an elevation in degree from nature, a promotion. Instead of being just another creature of nature, she becomes a representative of nature itself. Nature has granted her the right to develop a new being, and there are various levels to this matter. A woman must be careful about proper nutrition, about rest when needed, and other such physical cares, but the matter is far from ending at the bodily level. Just as nature takes care to develop us in a process that will lead to attaining the unity of creation, so too must the future mother advance the integral perception of the child already from the time he is a fetus in her womb.
The mother’s attitude toward her environment naturally passes to the fetus, because the fetus is part of her, flesh of her flesh. Since on nature’s behalf, we are connected in one large network, then as the mother relates to people, so exactly will others relate to her child. Why? It is because every movement, attitude, desire, and thought is recorded in the network.
It follows that what the mother “cooks,” the fetus eats. We would be wise to remember this equation. Since every mother’s natural aspiration is to raise a child who will receive a positive attitude from society, she herself must behave in such a way from the outset.
The more the mother improves her approach toward her environment, this change will also affect the fetus, because the environment will return a positive attitude to the mother. This will be expressed in the fetus’ healthy development in all of its bodily systems, and especially in the brain structure. Conversely, the mother’s improper relationships with people and states of tension will, of course, negatively affect the fetus.
From the very beginning of fetal development, the fetus should receive a positive attitude toward life from the mother and from the environment. This means an approach of balance, harmonious connection, friendliness, and mutual consideration and assistance. A mother who envelops the fetus in such an environment will aid their development of feelings and thoughts that become suited to an integral world, to an harmonious and peaceful connection with others.
Broadly speaking, we can say that we mistakenly divide the areas of our lives into two: life inside the womb and life outside it. Later on, we repeat the same mistake and divide the child’s life into the home on the one hand, and kindergarten and school on the other. We do not understand that life as a whole is one entirety, one flow without separation.
In the course of our development, we should not feel sharp transitions between periods and different spheres of life. Instead, we should ideally feel that our friendly environment expands harmoniously. The circles surrounding us become larger and larger, and we continue to develop while adapting to the new world that gradually unfolds before us.
If we teach the method of building an integral society for our children—a beautiful, friendly, warm world—they will perceive it as a single complete system. Just as nature develops all its creatures, and just as the womb raises the fetus, so must society serve as an optimal habitat for every individual within it. In this integral state, the child will feel wrapped in love, free among everyone, and will know how to relate correctly to every person. What does it mean to “relate correctly”? It means having the ability to accept others, understand their nature, be with them in complementary connection, and the person themselves will blossom and thrive.
In a world that is becoming increasingly interconnected, with mutual dependence intensifying rapidly, and with all the deadly weapons that are developing and the ego games that threaten to sink the boat for all of us, we will be unable to survive on this planet without building humanity as one large family. Therefore, I wish for us all to have an easy birth.
Based on “New Life 100 – Pregnancy and Birth: Parenting” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.