The inspiration for the theme of birth, bonding and death initially comes from my work as a doula and advocate for non-medicalized cultural practices at the beginning of life.
Since our cultural practices surrounding birth encompass things like breast feeding and parenting styles, it occurred to me that “bonding” is also an important part of this work, and by including bonding I address a wide range of human experience.
Also, in doing this work, death is always close at hand. Not only is death very much a part of pregnancy and childbirth (15-20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage and 1 of every 200 full term babies are stillborn), but it is also the obvious (but too often obscured) companion of life.
Along with this I draw inspiration from Radu Popa’s book “Between Necessity and Probability: Searching for the Definition and Origin of Life” where I learned that, counter to my assumptions, there is no one definition of life. And that the popular notion of cell division and genetic replication as the definition of life is “no longer much favoured.” This notion coupled with some of the compelling alternative definitions from other scientists that he provides was an “ah-ha!” moment for me.
I had a hunch that there was something missing in our popular culture definition of life and had been thinking deeply about it already as a part of my research into the legal parameters surrounding pregnancy and birth. The law constrains the rights of pregnant people based on the “state’s interest in potential life” which is why our definition of life is so important: it has a profound effect on what we can do with our bodies and in our relationships. If we can improve our definition of life, perhaps we can improve the socio-political conditions of our lives as well.
While I am still reading Radu Popa’s book and learning more about the scientific explorations in this field, I am also formulating my own definition by engaging as a full-bodied leaner with birth, bonding and death.
My writing here is the exploration of this territory. To this end, I define birth, bonding and death broadly, not only to include biological functions, but to include the cultures, ideas, relationships, memories, and experiences that inform us as living beings.