Fatherhood – more than just the physical

There is a young couple across the street who had a baby boy not too long ago. The father is playing with his son and it brings back memories of when I first had my children. Welcome to fatherhood. Those years tick by so fast and you wonder at the experience of it all and do some reflection. There is also the second guess of, “What did I do right? How could I have done better?”

The young man continued playing with the toddler and I could not help but notice his attention and care. He guides him away from the pond, a current danger to the child, but lets him run free within certain limits. The boy squeals with glee as he scampers and outpaces his father’s steps in a new direction. His little legs cannot go as fast as he likes and he takes a small tumble. A small squeal of frustration escapes his lips with little harm done. The father looks on and does not rush to rescue him but lets him pick himself up and begins to scamper again. His dad swoops in from behind to grab his arms and start the moon-style walking that kids love so much.

There is much more than physical play. There is indirect teaching of perceptions and concepts to the boy. The father is making an explicit choice to protect, teach, and play. The mother does it too, which makes for a very fortunate son. I recognize the sheer perfection of the moment – father and son revelry and guidance.

The logical side of me sees two world view possibilities. Yes, the father is the material and biological parent of the child. One worldview sees cold nature and its so-said deterministic path. The father and child are in a biological and chemical reaction. There is no choice or will other than random selection. There is no real joy or even danger; it is some dopamine or other chemicals dancing around his brain. The child is another mass of cells dependent on another mass of cells, so “danger” or “joy” is meaningless. There is no spiritual father who guides. There are only physical mechanisms.

Instead of the bio-electric and chemical soup, there is another version of a father with a dual nature of body and soul. The body is only the mechanism to project the soul or a container – ideas manifested in the physical world. The immaterial and intangible parts of fatherhood are there but no less real. The most important aspects are what we cannot see and how we pass on those things whether they are of true value or vice. What soul and spirit do we pass on?

Fatherhood of our souls

The Bible uses the image of God the Father and I could not help but imagine Him doing the same thing with our souls. When they are young, He sets more protective limits, but remains close even though we do our best to scamper away. He will let us stumble and fall. Like children, we do not like the restrictions placed on us and we want to do whatever we want.

While immature, the pond is a fatal danger until we learn the skills to handle the chaos of a new medium. Isn’t the soul in danger if it has no training to swim in a pond? You will drown. Your soul dies. With proper training, we can get through it but we cannot live in it. We are outside our natural element. We can draw many parallels from dangers to our soul, how we deal with them, and how we relate to the highest being. What ponds are you running towards when you cannot swim?