The Great Forgetting

THERE is an old Talmudic legend that explains how every unborn child is taught the mysteries of creation whilst it is still housed within the confines of the womb. At the moment of birth, or so it is said, an angel gives the infant a gentle tap between the nose and the mouth, which results in the child instantaneously forgetting everything. According to an old Hasidic interpretation of the legend,

"if the child did not forget, the course of the world would drive it to madness in light of what it knew."

Apparently, this angelic intervention explains why each of us end up with a small indentation just above the upper lip. Apart from the fact that I am inclined to believe that Jewish babies, instead, are given a sharp tug on the nose (settle down, it's only a joke), or perhaps that the more fortunate males receive a gentle tug somewhere else (men: remember to submit an official request before your next incarnation), this tradition appears to have found its way into Freudian psychology. A person who falls in love, for example, is said to have psychically rediscovered its mother's breast and that the entire process of finding an object is, in fact, merely a process of rediscovery.

I never had much faith in the ideas of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), I must say, but it is nonetheless interesting to note how certain theological concepts effectively become transposed into various academic disciplines and the curious notion that we rediscover that which we have lost during a former phase of our existence is fascinating. It would certainly explain how out-of-step we feel with the realm of the primordial and the deep yearning that so many of us have for self-fulfilment through spiritual union.