ESSAYS BY MICHEL ODENT, M.D.
5. The Primal Period of Spiritual Heroes
INTRODUCTION
The definition of “Primal Health Research” is simple and straightforward. It is a framework that includes any study exploring the links between the primal period (from conception until the first birthday) and health and behavior later on in life. Despite an apparently precise definition, the limits of the framework are vague, as vague as the words “study” and “research”.
Those who have subscribed to our newsletter since its beginning in 1993 and those who use our data bank probably associate “Primal Health Research” with epidemiological or experimental studies published in scientific or medical journals. In this issue, I’ll try to enlarge the concept and analyze the teachings of well-known legends. Legends are like living organisms: they are transmitted through a process of natural selection. When they carry valuable messages about human nature, they are more likely to disseminate and to survive over the millenniums. Today, many legends seem to be a way that human groups have kept old messages alive through the centuries, although they did not have all the keys to decode them.
It is significant that, in the biography of ordinary people, details about their primal period are not usually mentioned. Most biographies only indicate their subject’s date of birth, and then jump from social background to childhood and education. In the case of spiritual heroes, the primal period is also a part of the legend. Let me comment on the word “legend”. When considering the lives of legendary people, we place ourselves outside the fields of history, of religion, or of theology. Our subject is the vision of our heroes as it has been passed down over the centuries, not only by the scriptures and the various churches, but also by painters, poets, musicians and other media. Let me now illustrate the primal periods and childhood environments of several legendary characters.
Aphrodite was miraculously conceived when Cronus severed the testicles of his father Uranus and threw them into the sea. Aphrodite was born from the foam of the waves--outside of the human community.
The conception of Buddha was also miraculous and unreal. After 20 years of sterility, Maya had a strange dream in which she saw a white elephant entering into her womb through the right side of her chest, and she became pregnant. Buddha was born outside the human community as well, in the Lumbini Garden, while his mother Maya, who was travelling, had a rest among Ashoka blossoms. “In delight she reached her right arm out to pluck a branch and so Buddha was born...and Heaven and Earth rejoiced.”
The life of Buddha as a baby was an accumulation of extraordinary and significant events. At his name-giving ceremony, when he was five days old, experts interpreting bodily marks confirmed his exceptional future so that the child was given the name Siddhartha (one whose aim is accomplished). His mother, Queen Maya, died two days later. This implies that Buddha had several mothers during his primal period and was probably breastfed by Maya’s sister, who not only was the second consort of the king, but also gave birth to a baby boy at about the same time. It is likely that Maya’s friend Lotus, who also had a baby born soon after Buddha, was also his wet nurse.
A significant incident occurred when Buddha was still a toddler. One day during the plowing festival, he was supposed to be with his nurses in a tent under a jumbu tree, but was in fact left unattended because the nurses wanted to have some fun amongst themselves. The toddler was probably terrified. He was found absorbed in a trance, seated cross-legged in the posture of a yogi. Long after, in the Great Discourse to Saccaka, Buddha mentioned attaining the first jhana (i.e., trance) under the jumbu tree. He himself suggested a link between the state of trance he had found as a toddler and attaining Enlightenment more than thirty years later.
The primal period of Moses was also unique. He was born at a time when the Egyptians had ordered that all Hebrew newborn boys should be drowned, so his mother hid him for three months and then set him afloat in a reed basket on the Nile. The baby was found by the pharaoh's daughter while bathing, and he was raised at the Egyptian court. From this episode of the legend, one can conclude that Moses was a highly beloved baby and that his parents did all they possibly could for his survival. We can imagine that Moses spent the very beginning of his life with his highly protective birth parents, and that later Moses had several other mothers during his primal period.
When Moses was a toddler, an apparently minor event occurred which took on literally vital proportions in the context of the Egyptian court. Moses was playing with Pharaoh and innocently took hold of his crown and placed it on his own head. Consternation and horror swept the palace. Was this an omen that the young Hebrew would one day destroy the Pharaoh and his evil dynasty and take his place? The onlookers became paralyzed and dumb with fear. The atmosphere was tense. Finally, a test was devised. Two bowls were brought, one filled with chunks of shiny gold and the other with pieces of burning coal, and were placed in front of Moses. Were he to take a piece of the gold this would indicate that he would one day usurp the throne and should therefore be killed immediately. Were he to take one of the red hot embers, he would be declared innocent. In the legend, Moses moved his hand towards the bowl containing the gold and was just about to take some of the precious metal when, feeling the mounting suspense, he moved his hand away to the bowl containing the fiery coal. Of course he burnt his fingers and put them to his mouth so that his lips also were burnt. The atmosphere resulted in a terrified youngster who behaved in a trance-like state. Historians of medicine studied this episode in depth in order to interpret Moses’ probable stammer and probable left-handedness1. Today, there is evidence that stammers may be caused by emotional stress combined with mental conflicts occurring at the same time.
The legend of Jesus contains countless details about his primal period. Jesus’ conception--involving the Holy Spirit and announced by the Angel Gabriel--was miraculous. It occurred outside the realm of space and time reality. This conception was a blessing. “Rejoice, highly favored one...blessed are you among women...”
The birth of Jesus in a stable, among mammals, is a well-known episode of the legend. Certain details were passed down in particular by the protogospel of James, suggesting that Mary had complete privacy when giving birth, as Joseph had left the stable in search of a midwife. When he came back with a midwife, Jesus had already been born.2,3 It was only when a dazzling light had faded that the midwife realized that she was facing an incredible scene. Jesus had already found his mother’s breast! According to Jacob Lorber, in his book about the childhood of Jesus, the midwife said, “Who has ever seen a hardly born baby catching his mother’s breast?” This is an obvious sign that when he becomes a man, this child will judge the world according to Love and not according to the Law!”
The primal period of Muhammad is also special. Muhammad was born after the death of his father. This seems critical. The night when Amina gave birth to Muhammad, the sky was illuminated by such a bright light that she could see even the souks in Damas. After his birth, Muhammad was separated from his mother and breastfed by a wet nurse from a nomadic tribe before spending some time in the desert. The decision to give the baby to a wet nurse was probably taken by the authoritarian paternal grandfather who was the head of the prestigious Hashem clan and prominent in Mecca politics.
There are intriguing similarities between these legends. The primal period of such heroes can be described as extraordinary. This phase of their lives was influenced by the fact that they had a certain relationship with political leaders. Buddha was the son of King Suddhodana and Queen Maya. Moses was raised in the Pharaoh's palace. Jesus was “of the seed of David” and Muhammad was under the care of his paternal grandfather, a leading man in Mecca. We might add that Aphrodite had a powerful father, since Uranus was the personification of Heaven.
Ecstatic states are often mentioned or suggested during the primal period of these heroes. The conceptions of Buddha and Jesus were miraculous, orgasmic, out of space and time. The dazzling lights that accompanied the birth of Jesus and Muhammad are also metaphors for ecstatic states. It is significant that both Maya and Mary gave birth in complete privacy--outside the human community. Having privacy, “not being observed,” is a necessary condition for a woman in labor to reach an orgasmic state. Privacy ensures that a woman will have little to no external stimulation to interrupt the production of oxytocin, the hormone present in orgasmic states. The importance of the message is perceived when recalling that all cultures tend to socialize birth. All cultures transmit beliefs and rituals that disturb the physiological processes and distract the mother at the time of the first contact with the newborn baby (for example, there is a cross cultural belief that colostrum is harmful).
There are also striking similarities between the trance-like states reached by Buddha and Moses when they were toddlers. Both incidents happened to boys without the protection of their biological mother. It is noticeable that Buddha, Moses and Muhammad were deprived of their biological mother after their births.
All these similarities were ignored before the age of “Primal Health Research”. In the current scientific context it appears that our health, our behaviors and our capacity to love are to a great extent determined during the primal period. Twentieth-century scientific data is able to provide keys to perhaps decode old messages.
REFERENCES
1. Garfinkel H. A.(1995). Why did Moses stammer? And was Moses left-handed? J. Royal Soc. Med., 88, 256-257.
2. Evangelicum Jacobi Minori. XIX.2, quoted in Jesus by Jean Paul Roux (1989). Paris: Fayard, p.100.
3. Jacob Lorber. L’enfance de Jesus (Chap.16). Paris: Editions Helies.
| Homepage | Welcome | APPPAH | Bits & Bytes | Origins of Violence | Life Before Birth
The Birth Scene | Healing of Pre- & Perinatal Trauma | The Journal | Resources
