This entry is going to read more like a discussion on the spiritual nature of  humans and our place in the universe.  This is quite a task, considering that the goal of my storybook is to form an interesting, intelligible guide to understanding different cultures, for a child.  For my purposes, I have chosen to use the writings of Joseph Campbell.  I am drawn to Campbell as a source because he is the most modern interpreter of mythology that I know of.  He also incorporates many different spiritual perspectives in his explanations.  This aspect of his writing is very important to me because the main concept I want Mira to gain from this project is the idea that we are all connected, made of the same stuff and that each individual and thing on earth is as special and magical as any molecule that can be found anywhere in the entire universe.  I admit that this is not going to be a concept that Mira will grasp entirely by reading any amount of written word.  I simply want to point out a few ideas about spirituality and God that I believe to be true.

'"All of God is in all things (although not totally, but in some more abundantly and in others less),"  Giordano Bruno of Nola...'  '"Because just as Divinity descends, in a certain manner, to the extent that one communicates with Nature, so one ascends to Divinity through Nature, as by means of a life resplendent in natural things one rises to the life that presides over them."'
 

The text I have used to gain my quotations came directly from Joseph Campbell's book series entitled The Masks of God: Creative Mythology.  The story is my own lived experience.

What I have come up with is the story of Mira's birth, told in reference to our spiritual places in the universe.
 
 

Female animals on Earth have been giving birth to babies for billions of years.  Now it is customary for human women to attend classes shortly before giving birth to either teach them how to give birth or how to react to the things that might happen during birth.  I decided to give birth to my child at home.  In my birthing class, I was reminded of the fact that the process of giving birth is the most natural thing that has ever occurred.  All of existence depends on the process of reproduction and destruction.  This is something that was very important for me to think about while I was preparing to give birth myself.  I also was taught, in my birthing class, to visualize the opening of a flower when it was time for my baby to come into this world.

I practiced visualizing this image and relaxing my mind and body in preparation for birth.  This image, of a flower opening, came before my eyes every time I closed them and took a deep breath.

The day I woke up and knew that the baby was ready to be born, I felt excited and wanted to make sure that my home was ready for a new person to be in it.  The day was long but full of hope in anticipation for the new life that was about to begin.

When the time finally came for me to help the new life into the world,  I was very tired because I had been awake for a very long time.  But when new life is being born, there is no time to rest.  I remembered to relax and my body do what is was created to do.  Then I closed my eyes and saw the flower opening more than it ever had before until finally a tiny seed was exposed.  The seed suddenly sprouted a stem, grew a flower and produced a seed.  When I opened my eyes I knew that my baby was very close, I bent down reached out arms and embraced my new daughter as the midwife handed her to me.