The Gaian Birthing, a subchapter of @The Ascent of Humanity by @Charles Eisenstein, depicts the rebirth of the world we know—transition from what he calls the @Age of Separation into the @Age of Reunion. Rebirth, Eisenstein says, "will not be as an escape from a planet we have ruined, but as the fruiting of a healed and vibrant Earth moving into the next stage of its development."

The Gaian Birthing: Abridged

Birth is a journey that starts with blissful oneness, proceeds through increasingly unbearable confinement, climaxes in a heroic struggle, and ends with a return to the one, but at a new level of being. In human birth this is the breast, the reuniting with the mother in a new, more highly individuated way. Once upon a time, we were enwombed in nature, without the possibility of even an illusory separation.

@Stage One: Bliss

The first stage of the birth process covers the months before the fetus has begun to push up against the limits of the uterus. She lives in a warm, rhythmic, rocking environment where her needs are automatically met, effortlessly. All she does is exist and grow, physically and mentally. The psychological state corresponding to Stage One is one of complete security, complacency, and a feeling of no limits. In the mythic realm, Stage One is represented by the Garden of Eden, where every need is effortlessly met, and in the Golden Age of ancient legend, when people still lived in the bosom of Nature and knew not struggle and strife. In terms of humanity and the earth, **Stage One was the hunter-gatherer stage. ** As a natural consequence of growth, the uterus eventually becomes confining. The fetus loses her freedom of movement as a once-blissful universe turns against her. Because the cervix is still closed, there is literally no way out of this increasingly uncomfortable predicament. When the contractions start, universal, all-encompassing pressure bears down on the fetus from every direction. Stage Two thus corresponds to psychological states of despair, depression, and hopelessness.

@Stage Two: Confinement

In Stage Two, the Eden of the uterus has become a Hell. Just as there is no way out for the fetus, Hell is a place beyond hope of redemption. The basic condition of the universe is that of hopeless suffering. In the language of mystics, this state is known as the Dark Night of the Soul, the feeling of utter abandonment by God. Spirituality seems a cruel joke, faith a delusion. It is the cardboard world. Its meaninglessness is transparent. Existentialism is closely linked to Stage Two of the birth process, in which there is literally No Exit. We are just machines made from meat, and nothing matters and nothing ever could matter. At the end of Stage Two, the direction of transformation can no longer be a continuation of growth in the womb, but must become a journey into a new world.

@Stage Three: Struggle

On the mythological level, Stage Three corresponds to religious archetypes of Armageddon, the final battle between Good and Evil, or Ragnarok, the battle between the gods and the giants in Norse mythology. At Ragnarok, all the worthy warriors who died in battle fight on the side of the gods. This myth refers to the common struggle that we all experience. It means that our personal battles have universal significance. The collective transformation of our species can only be the sum of billions of individual transformations, each driven by the intersection of generalized crises with our individual lives. No longer will we be able to hide from them, no longer will they be something that happens somewhere else, to someone else. In one form or another, they will affect us all personally. Because we are not discrete individuals but exist in relationship to the rest of humanity and the rest of nature, it is impossible to enjoy lasting health amidst an ailing society and a poisoned planet. It is impossible; it is a contradiction in terms. We humans have been moving out of Stage Two into Stage Three for nearly a century now. In some areas this transition is more advanced than others.

@Stage Four: Emergence

In Stage Four of birth, the baby is born into a new and unimagined world, where he becomes an anatomically distinct individual. In any kind of birth process, the entity being born cannot imagine what lies beyond the mother’s body. In the case of humanity as well, the new society we are being born into is probably beyond imagining. I suspect my halting attempts to describe an Age of Reunion fall woefully short of its true magnificence. Whatever form collective humanity and individual life will take, one thing is certain: it will not be a final triumph or mastery over nature. We will be no more independent of nature than an infant, having outgrown the umbilical connection, is independent of her mother. Birth is a journey that starts with blissful oneness, proceeds through an increasingly unbearable confinement, climaxes in a heroic struggle, and ends with a return to the one, but at a new level of being. In human birth this is the breast, the reuniting with the mother in a new, more highly individuated way. Once upon a time we were enwombed in nature, without the possibility of even an illusory separation. In the Age of Reunion that will follow the present birthing, we will gaze upon Mother Nature’s face with the adoring eyes of an infant.

References

The Gaian Birthing, @The Ascent of Humanity by @Charles Eisenstein
Time to Push, charleseisenstein.substack.com

Contexts

#ascent-of-humanity (See: @The Ascent of Humanity)
#charles-eisenstein (See: @Charles Eisenstein)