What would it be like if you were to mother yourself? Shortly after Easter, a small group of people took up this question with Michelangelo’s Pietà in mind:
The world would stop for a moment. It would be quiet, gentle, and warm. It would be like creating a loving space for myself—a beautiful solitude in which things have time. I could give myself this enfolding gesture and wouldn’t have to seek it elsewhere. It would be a sweet honeyed atmosphere that excludes all that is alien. An affirmation that arises without knowing anything. I could cradle myself on my own lap. But I am unable to bear myself. Have I even given birth to myself yet? And would I have to carry my own corpse? All that dies within me? All that is hard to bear about myself? Only when my “crippledness” can also be born am I fully here. This is incredibly difficult, like a birth. For this, I need the help of others. So how do I give birth to the mother within me? I can love my angel and invite it to me, so that I can dwell within it. I can be a mother to my spirit being, but in this world it is a gift to have been born of my own mother. Thank you.
Translation Laura Liska
Image Pietà by Michelangelo, ca. 1499, St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, CC BY-SA 4.0
