to become the mother of everything
I have a lot of thoughts on the ethics of procreation and have been thinking about this topic for years. There is something so unfair about creating a child without there being any way of gaining that child's consent to coming into existence. Especially in today's world, where we are hurtling into the early years of a climate catastrophe that might destroy the very capability for life to exist on earth, it seems so unfair to force someone to exist.
In the world we live in, I would argue that the overwhelming majority of children do not have their needs met. Whether they are struggling to have their most basic needs for food, water, shelter, and safety met, or whether they are growing up in isolation, raised by emotionally unavailable parents who treat them as objects rather than human beings, I believe there are very few children on earth today whose needs are being functionally and holistically met to the utmost.
Considering this fact, it makes immensely greater sense to focus our efforts on improving the quality of life for the children who have already been created rather than creating more life just to neglect it or offer it less than it needs to thrive. An analogy would be this: when you have an open jar of something in the fridge, and you buy a second or third or fourth jar of that same food, isn't it more sane, thoughtful, and efficient to finish the first open jar and then open the second rather than opening all the jars without finishing the first one? In the same way, why are we bringing more children into the world when we cannot even take care of the ones that are already here? This tendency of ours results in a vicious cycle of children whose needs are not met growing up into abusive and careless adults who harm everyone in their path and produce more children whose needs they are, of course, unable to meet.
Until we create a much more highly evolved society based on furthering and maintaining the collective wellbeing of all life, I would argue that all people should stop procreating and focus instead on caring for the very large number of children who already exist in this world and who have unmet needs. Obviously, this will never happen in practice, but the more people who dedicate themselves to this ethical ideal, the better the world will become.
During the first seven years of life, known as the formative years, every single thing that happens to a child forms and molds them in ways that become permanent. If we could focus on making a strong effort to improve the experiences children have during these years so that greater numbers of children experience more instances of wellbeing and having their needs fully met, the resulting adult population will be astronomically better adjusted, more empathetic, more intelligent, more balanced, and happier than any other generation that has ever lived. It is difficult to fully predict or encapsulate the ensuing transformative increase in global collective wellbeing that would result from such a generation of children.
My philosophy towards this end, and my understanding of what motherhood or parenthood truly is, is that a mature adult considers themselves to be the mother of everything, the mother of every single being, of every single child born on this earth. If you think of your role in this way, you realize that all children are your children, are your responsibility, in the same way that the earth is the creatrix of all life. How can you allow some of your children to suffer from hunger, disease, war, lack of education, and lack of love? To be the mother of everything is to act in never-ending service to all children and to the innate goodness of life.
Of course, many people have chosen and will continue to choose to have their own children anyway. My point for these people is not that they are wrong or bad, but rather that they should never shirk their responsibility towards all the other children of the earth. We all must hold ourselves accountable to the highest wellbeing of every single child.
An interesting extension of this philosophy is that if you see yourself as the mother of every being, you also see all people, even those much older than yourself, as if they were children, that is, to the full extent of their goodness and innocence. This capacity for ultimate empathy is a necessary tool and ingredient for the new world that is to come.