Preface

I had been working on a parable about near-term precocious twin fetuses that were contemplating the nature of the after-womb.  As I was finalizing the wording, I encountered a post by Kathy Roman in bahaiteachings.org that highlighted the same metaphor, which apparently has been recognized for a while in the Baha’i faith (A Conversation Between Twins from Inside the Womb – BahaiTeachings.org). 

The parable suggests that there are serious constraints on our ability to understand (and convey) truth in the spiritual domain.  I chose to share this parable early in my blogging so that readers will take what I have to say with a grain of salt.  At best, I hope that there will be some truth and some value in the things that I will say, but perhaps no more than the truth and value in some works of fiction.  

Two near-term twin fetuses were enlightened with the ability to contemplate the world beyond the womb and to communicate in a limited way with their mother.  Their mother loved them dearly and wanted to put the twins at ease concerning the outside world, and so she talked about all the wonderful things that they should expect.

“There will be spectacular sunrises and sunsets,” she said.  “There will be all kinds of interesting things to see, smell, taste, and touch.  There will be many kinds of music, with amazing instruments and voices that blend together in delightful ways.  You will feel love in a warm embrace.  You will dance and play and experience fun in so many ways.  You will find purpose in the things that you do.”

The twins had a very little ability to appreciate the wonderful things about which their mother spoke, and they each developed their own ideas regarding what the after-womb might be like.  They had hoped that it would be very much like the womb, only better — with more wonderful gurgling noises and more room to stretch, but they feared that it might be completely different and that they might not make it to the after-womb.

So they asked their mother what they should do to prepare for the after-womb and to ensure that they were delivered into it safely.  After carefully considering their request and realizing that much of what she could say they would not comprehend, their mother began to talk to them about loving others, helping others, preserving the world, obeying the law, and similar things that they would not fully understand but might still serve as seeds of inspiration in them.

Unfortunately, as fetuses naturally do, they drifted in and out of sleep while their mother spoke, and they each heard different things and they developed different ideas concerning what was important.  One of the twins came to believe that it was important to focus on love and obedience.  The other twin believed that helping others and preservation should be the focus.  The twins respected each other, but when their mother was asleep they would sometimes argue over who was right and who was wrong, and they each felt disappointed with the other.

Now let’s consider which twin was right and which twin was better prepared for the after-womb.  Would either of the twins be surprised at what the world beyond was truly like?  Would they be more tolerant of their sibling’s perspective?  Likewise, would you think about your beliefs and others’ beliefs differently if you knew that one day your ability to perceive, understand, and appreciate a larger reality would be a million times greater than it is now?