Psychology.

Psyche = "breath", spirit, soul
Psychology = the study of the psyche

If only everything was as easy at the picture above. A little lock and key. But would this then be worth it? The beauty of life is in the mysteries and unsolvables. Human beings are paradoxical: the individual is always present to me and yet always more than what I can figure out. Levinas describes that we are all responsible for other human beings, even more than we are for ourselves. Our worlds are "other-centered" and we have to care for others in every way we can.

The metaphor of “maternity” in the “Maternal Psyche” by Richard Cohen describes the responsible relationship of an individual to other people. Maternity is all about caring for the child that is growing inside of you. There is a natural obligation to give yourself to the child for nourishment and support, but there is still a choice in whether you accept this obligation or not. A mother holds a child in her womb, as the child is part of her, and gives direct nourishment for the child in order to help it survive and grow. A child cannot live without his mother sustaining his life in the womb. A mother suffers in caring for a child because she becomes physically exhausted and emotionally drained. It is a huge responsibility to care for the child and sacrifice yourself for the good of your child. The child comes before the mother and the mother lives to care for the child. Through caring for her child, the mother becomes enriched because she is helping her child grow in her womb and grow in life.

Motherhood emerges through caring for one’s child, just as “…selfhood emerges as the bearer of obligations and responsibilities for the other” (Cohen, 41). The other needs to be brought into your own womb for nourishment because he has needs and is calling for you to help him. Just as a child is conceived through a natural process, the other is naturally your responsibility and obligation to care for. It is your choice to accept this responsibility or not (as in maternity), but it is a powerful call. An individual is responsible for the other in order to sustain the other and help the other grow. The other needs you to care for him and help him in his life. There is sacrifice involved in helping the other, because you are interrupting your own life and well being in order to help another human being. But this sacrifice is worth the suffering because you are helping to sustain the other and you enrich your own life in the process, just as you would by helping a child grow.

A mother’s responsibility to her child does not end after the child is released from her womb. She is forever responsible for the well being of her child and for the actions her child performs. Similarly, an individual is responsible for the other not just for brief moments of need, but for a lifetime. It is a giving of yourself to the other, just as a mother would give to her child throughout her life. There is also a frustration in not being able to help the other enough, just as a mother may struggle with wanting to help her child with everything even though she is unable. A mother cannot protect her child from violence as she wants to nor can she heal a broken arm with a magic touch. Despite this, she can still lend her hand to try to get the child to always walk with another individual in order to avoid violence and she can still kiss the forehead of the child as she takes him into the hospital to get a cast on his broken arm. An individual may not be able to help solve everything for the other, but he can lend his hand to help whenever he can with whatever tools has to offer. We are all maternally responsible for others, as we strive to take them into our wombs and nourish them with our own bodies and abilities.

"Thank you! The thrill of a teacher is not just when the student 'got it' but 'got it superbly.'"
(Dr. Kunz, my phenomenological psychology professor)

The realization of appreciation is when a student begins to tear up at the kind words of her professor on the take home exam she worked her butt off on :)