Octuplet Mom: Eight Gates to Heaven…Focus on the children.

To me, there is nothing more exquisite or as beautiful as a child. There is not to be found a more trusting and innocent being than a baby. The opposite complement to children would be the love of the mother. She opens her heart and takes the little life unto her breast.  If she is truly endowed with motherlove, there that child will remain throughout life, close to her proverbial breast. How many children or offsprings can a mother love? I suspect the answer is "This many..."

Children are innocent.  They  act without knowledge of cause and effect, without awareness of  the consequences caused by their spontaneous actions and utterances. Those of us who went to public schools may still remember the sting of  the insults we endured because of our too large ears, bulbous noses or oversized heads. Whatever a classmate saw as a flaw quickly became the group joke until some other poor student became the target of the week. The class comedians may have thought they were funny or justified but what they did for a laugh may have caused tears to flow for  many years later.  A young child has no intent to do harm. A young child lacks sufficient experience to comprehend what  happens to another human being when they are  publicly ridiculed.

As I watch the media and public reaction to the case of Nadya Suleman, the woman who is now being called Octupulet Mom, I am not only reminded of those days in school but grieve at how easy it is for human beings to assume a position of false superiority.  The eight  childlren are now in the world. They are living beings. How they were conceived may be a point of interest but of more interest to me is that each child is a vital living being.. They will need the love and attention of their mother. To take on such a herculean role,  granted, one  she chose,  Suleman must be in a positive frame of mind.  Those who decry the births have no obligation to contribute to their upkeep but  to continually take snipes at the mother and, in atleast one case ,to threaten her life are sick acts. So to deprive 14 children of their mother would be the higher road in someone's mind, than having them?  I have no doubt that one woman could love so many children. A mother's love is not determined by Math.

Jesus Christ compared his love to that of a mother. His love was so vast he wanted to shelter all living beings.

Christ holding the Universal Child is an original Soul Sword Zen work of art created by Sabine Kleftogiannis. You can bid on owning the original signed copy by writing Wordmasters@Peoplepc.com attention Art Director.

Love can not be measured in dollars and cents. I have heard estimates of how much it will take to raise 14 children. If our parents had to calculate the dollar expediture of keeping us through the years based on their  minimum wage budgets, most of the people in my school would not have been born. Most of the children in the world today would not have been born. Buddhist recognize that human birth is a great privilege. It is a gift to the being who experiences it. Reflect for a moment on your own life. You breathe, feel, taste, touch, and smell. You have unlimited ability to expand your life experiences. Be grateful that your parents permited you to be born in this world. This is their most precious gift to you. They did not take the opportunity away...they could have.

Nadya Suleman explained to Ann Curry on ""The Today Show," that she always wanted a large family. I do not know why she felt the need to take the great risk of multible implants.  However, human beings are endowed with a precious ability that is being threatened more and more each day. It is called free-will. You do not have to like other people's choices. If you make a strong effort to curtain their right to choose, even to make an unpopular choice, you will put a knife to your own free-will. If a person is not directly causing you harm in violation of your right to enjoy life and well-being, your opinion of their decision does not bear the weight of law.

What I am witnessing is that people seem to think because they don't agree with Nadya Suleman they have a right to threaten her physical and psychological well-being.  Instead of giving birth to only eight children, she has given birth to millions of  name-calling little boys and girls.  One blog spoke of Suleman in the same breath as Casey Anthony. Anthony is alledged to have taken her child's life. Suleman has given life and promised love. Now it is up to Suleman to find her way to do just that, raise all of her children with love.

Students of The Way should know that we are all imperfect. It is easy to see the glaring faults of others and rise  up to point the finger. That is because our vision looks outward. We see others not ourselves. People become animated in their criticism, not realizing that they are only indicting themselves.

There is a reason The Scripture say "Judge not that ye be not judged." Meditate on that. Judge and you will be judged.

Spiritually,you cannot achieve what you will not allow others to possess as well. So if  you find yourself trying to tear a person apart for exercizing their right of choice, no matter how unconventional it is, you, yourself are a prisoner of conformity. That may keep you out of the news but it is one of the worst of all possible spiritual conditions. There is no progress on the enlightenment path for you so long as you hold to a rigid mind.

We are not in grade school anymore. We know that words and deeds have consequences. We should do what we can to help in situations or hold our peace. This is only a mandate, if your desire is to be an instrument of peace and change. You may be  a person who  likes conflict.  You  may operate under the delusion that you can be free and everyone else must follow your view of the ideal. Eight  new children are here now. They would no more know the circumstances of their birth than you do yours...but of course the media will tell them, and they may suffer for that knowledge one day. For now they know nothing but they can still sense the spiritual state of their mother. The Lord says , "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for such as they is the kingdom of heaven." He  would not exclude the Suleman babies and neither would I. The babies are here now. They need love. More important than analyzing the mother is the welfare of the children. You cannot help the children by targeting the mother. The children are here now. Time for the critics and pundits to be mindful of the damage they may be causing. Do pray for the children...all of the children of the world. Pray for their mothers for their love can be godlike in its sustaining power. Pray for the fathers that they may stand close and be a strong pillow of faith and the doer of good deeds. More than even that, pray that each of us will reach out to the children of the world in true compassion....

It still takes a village...

The great advancement in technology stills proves the saying originally taught in my motherland of Africa. "It takes a village to raise a child." Whether children come from one mother or a group of mothers they need help. Positive role models can  fill the void in families, and help children live rich lives. In the picture below, Joseph Daniel Duncan, a part of the Soul Sword Zen Community (He is scrunched down in back) is seen with some of the boys from a community center in London, England. ,He teaches them Warrior Exercizes, among other things. He is currently studying  for his Masters, and is dedicated to helping youth. Joseph has no children of his own. He is still in his twenties but he knows how to be a big brother to those youth needing guidance and attention.

Look for ways you can make things better. That is our way.