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Robert’s launches right into her text so we take our cue from her. The first paragraph reads:
“From our biology classes we might recall that catch phrase “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny.” As this refers to the human species, it points out that the embryonic development of each human being recapitulates the evolutionary process of the human species as a whole. From a single cell and its particular elements, the development of each individual passes through the entire history of the emergence of the human species. Thus, in the development of the individual, there is the repetition of its phylogenetic history, each one recapitulating the whole developmental history of mankind.”
As you may remember we will be using a template to reflect on this text. The template is
1) How have I or how am I understanding or experiencing these words?
2) What are the words asking of me?
3) How is staying true to the asking going?
First, in reflecting on the text I find I experience the words as a felt sense that life builds on itself. For instance, at the simplest level I watched my children grow from infants to adults. They passed through various and multiple stages as the developmental process unfolded. There is yet another way I experience these words, which is more ambiguous and amorphous, which is life events, such as relating, learning, and maturing, are unfolding in some pattern that is out of my control. There is even a sense, if paying close attention, that this unfolding is preset in some way. I mean my kids, nor I, could not help but grow up (develop).
I understand this unfolding to mean I’m not alone in my unfolding, that it has been an ongoing process throughout time and is represented in the macrocosm of human species development. Understanding unfolding as ongoing lends a certain trust to this whole business of living. Another way I might say this is that as the species develop (evolve) so will (do) I; alea jack est or the die is cast.
As to what these words ask of me. To truly live into the idea that what I am undergoing is no different than what the whole of the human species has undergone is comforting. So why do I not live the dailyness of life from this comfort? On my end it requires a great trust to allow and surrender to the unfolding. There are days that I just can’t or, quite frankly, don’t want to. I am aware that there are many aspects of my life that I hold on to for control purposes. At the end of the day these words invite a radical trust on my part. Learning to trust the center and learning to surrender everything to that center is a life-long living. On Love’s side there is delight that I try and on my side there is delight in trying.
Staying true to the ask of radical trust is an ongoing learning. There is great humbling in accepting my human frailty, my inability to do this on my own. To stay true also requires a resetting of attention and intention for another go. In this sense staying true is going well because I now understand that this process of unfolding, development, and maturity is an ongoing one, without end, and that my best and truest response to each moment is to acknowledge my frailty in the midst of trying again.
