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azimos —
eyes that never opened
Published: 2010-04-29 22:35:15 +0000 UTC; Views: 28696; Favourites: 697; Downloads: 1
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Before you read my comment, I'd like you to see what you are thinking when you see this, so your first impression won't be affected by my or other people's thoughts...I had no comment written for this before getting a DD, but someone suggested I should.
Some of you who have chosen to comment are taking this image in scope of pro-life and pro-choice issue. It would definitely be a suiting image for that in my opinion too.
If you're curious, this was found in a medical building of my university where they had done dissections of people who had given consent. It is to see what a fetus looks like in different stages of life. I'm not a medical student and I found this room by accident when I was taking shelter from rain.
I had a lot of thoughts that flashed in my mind but one of the things that lingered while I was taking the shot was this poem, as I've already written in another similar image:
Think how it is to have a conversation with an embryo.
You might say, "The world outside is vast and intricate.
There are wheatfields and mountain passes,
and orchards in bloom.
At night there are millions of galaxies, and in sunlight
the beauty of friends dancing at a wedding."
You ask the embryo why he, or she, stays cooped up
in the dark with eyes closed.
Listen to the answer.
There is no "other world."
I only know what I've experienced.
You must be hallucinating.
-Rumi
Now Mowlana Rumi was a mystic Sufi; he believed in another world after death and and he wrote this as an analogy of those who denied that. But this could mean in more ways than that. It could relate to our lack of experience to any other "world" hidden from us. I believe there could be many types of veils... It could be the world inside another human being, another heart. It could be about belief of God or lack of. I'm an astronomy student, so my thoughts also go to black holes, possibility of parallel universe or higher dimensions, or such.
So really, I think we are all an embryo in a lot of ways.
As for the DD, I'm realizing the one image that I had the least part is chosen from my gallery. My thoughts go to the mother of this little one and the decisions she had to make, the father, all the other family or friends who were involved, the doctor and others who handled and took part in this little body to be there in that room...
Thank you ikai-zixie to have found this image, showing compassion and so much wonderment and suggesting it, and Timothy-Sim for picking it amongst many.
And if you've read so far thank you, I appreciate it...I hope you'll share your thoughts or feelings too...
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Comments: 915
So you're basing all this on stories? Have you ever seen in person an actual aborted fetus? Besides even if that miraculously intact un-damaged aborted fetus exsists it's an unlikely thing.
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Actually, I have seen PHOTOS, here's the story, [link]
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Right link me to a Pro-life propaganda website and expect me to take it seriously.
Find a similar story or some photos in a legitimate science/medical blog and I'll give it some credit.
I think we're done here. Have fun trying to make the entire world feel guilty over something that's none of your business kthnxbai.
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Have fun throwing names at someone you don't even know for absolutely no reason. Considering the fact that you don't seem to do anything but tell me I'm linking you to 'propaganda' which if anything, do, that was from a former pro choicer, she saw all of this, and I've SEEN PHOTOS. If you still don't see any logic then yeah, fine, whatever.
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this is terribly sad....to think that this child was never able to be born and experince the terrible and wonderful gift of life.
seeing this is very sobering.
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Thank you for your comment...
It makes me wonder though...do you think life is better than death in all circumstances?
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well no. I have no idea what death is like so I cant really compare them, but I still think it's sad that this child never got to experience life. I mean, sure life sucks, but it's the sucky times that make the rest of it so precious
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I know what you mean about the hard times making us appreciate the good times. And of course, there is always the possibility of life after death being better than now...which we can only guess now.
But what I was really referring to was what if the hard times outweighs the good in this world...and it wasn't just hard times, but disturbing and nightmarish?
What if we could see the future, and knew for sure that a child, with all its innocence at this time, would grow up to be an oppressor...someone who would commit murder, or repeated rape...with no remorse until its time of death, with a heart that would rust and grow cold each passing day in its adult life. Would you still say it is sad that it didn't experience life?
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Well, If the hard times are terrible and nightmarish and far outweigh the good times, perhaps the afterlife would be better.
all those situations would really depend on the individual.
the child could have grown up to be a dictator or an opressor or a criminal, but it's also possible that it could have grown into a great humanitarian or leader, or the next musical genius for all we know.
That's the chance we take when we decide to bring life into the world.
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Definitely. I'm not trying to be pessimistic. It's just that when people express regret at things like this, it makes me think...it is indeed sad and heart breaking right now...but we simply don't know what could or would have happened. We see things momentarily and don't know what the end results would be.
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Wow... My first thought was... "Oww... my stomach hurts..."
This picture makes me a little sad... It didn't get to experience anything from life... it makes me appreciate living... and it also makes me wonder... if it could come back... I hope it can experience life... and hope it wont end so abruptly...
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts
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Wow, this is amazing.
Most of the foetus seems full formed, but when you look at it's face it almost seems as if there are no eyes, This is amazing in a sad but breath-taking way.
See, describing the world to an unborn baby is like describing sound to a deaf person. If they were deaf since birth they would have no idea what music is like to our own ears.
In that instant it's the same, if we say 'orchard' the baby still doesn't have any clue what we mean.
Then again, to it we technically don't exsist. It can't see us and doesn't know us except for a voice.....Right, i'll stop rambling
Great stuff here. A mind opener.
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When you used the example of the notion of sound to a deaf person, it reminded me of something I had seen once on TV...
It was about a little girl called Mia. She was a few months old and was born deaf (or near deaf). They did a surgery on her to put a hearing device in her head, which with this other part outside of her head could make her hear.
She was playing in her own world when they decided to turn on the device, and made these little sounds (like a whisper) for just a moment before turning it off...she froze all of a sudden and her eyes got big. But when the sound was gone, she went back to playing looking confused. Then they made the whisper louder, but this time she heard it and started crying...now she was hearing her own cry for the first time and she just looked absolutely terrified....I wish I could find the clip because it was an amazing thing to see!...babies cry all the time, but you could tell this wasn't just any cry, her face was all red within a second or two and she looked really stressed....
A whole new sense...........
Interesting thing is when I saw that, I thought of new born babies. And here you made the same connection, only the other way around. ^_^
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Well there you go
Funny how things remind us of something different, all in the idea i suppose.
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I'm pro-choice..but these kind of images really make me wonder.
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This picture is haunting me, I'm not disturbed by it I just...I feel bad for this child. Not because they it possibly aborted, still born or had natural defects that it wouldn't survive through but just that it didn't get to experience life. All the up and downs. Sometimes the downs are more overwhelming then the ups but the ups are what makes life...life. If reincarnation does exist I hope it got another chance at life. It makes you really appreciate being the embroy that made it out of the millions of eggs your mom had inside of her. What were the odds it would be YOU?
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I appreciate this...that you wrote me of what you thought and your feelings.
You're right, there are ups and downs in life, and sometimes the downs are what makes us value things. Perhaps that is exactly what this is...You and I seeing this and especially those around the life of this child witnessing this and some of us getting overwhelmed and thinking it's a terrible and hard thing---perhaps it's all a lesson of valuing life.
We can't see the consequences, but if we could, we would probably see things soo much better and clearer. Right now saying this is a sad thing is our way of only seeing the immediate. Have you heard of Khidr? How he strike a child such that the child died...but then what he said to Moses?
There is a lesson in that story. He was given a vision to see things that Moses (or others) couldn't...
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I'm honored you replied. I never heard of Khidr but I just did some research on him and I like what he stands for! Thanks for sharing that with me.
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A life that once was, sitting in a jar. Both sad and gorgeously beautiful. A tiny, human body, that had a heartbeat, and hands, and feet, and eyebrows, and... fingernails. When I think about the intricacy of even this small, undeveloped body, I'm once again blown away by creation.
I relate to your thoughts about veils; I've used the same word. Sometimes I look at the world around me, and when the conditions are right, it feels as though I'm looking at another world imposed across this one. Like I'm glimpsing something far greater than myself through a veil. An acute awareness of something - God, beauty, a spiritual realm; exactly what I'm never completely sure of - overcomes me, almost as though I'm having a revelation I can never fully realize. Like it's too big. And maybe I'm a loon for believing all this, but I can't shake this feeling of a reality yet realized.
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When we are kids, we see everything with a beginner's mind. But over time, as we begin to understand why things happen the way they do, we sometimes impose how we view the world to what we see-- how we think it should be rather than how it is.
What I'm trying to say is that it's not being a loon at all to have that awe or awareness. The world is so big and intricate that it challenges not only our knowledge but our imagination.
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I imagine..
but what are your thoughts exactly?
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I'm thinking about my two brothers, which never could really open their eyes... They died short time after the birth.
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I had a brother like that too. But I feel for what my mother went through more than anything. I don't know about you, but my brother was older than me and I am the last child--so it makes me wonder had he come, would I be born. It seems ironic that I am here today to think these kinds of things.
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Hm, we have the same sorts of thoughts in this case. The twins would be younger than me, but i wonder, what would happen, if they would live... would my two little sister be born?
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You know, perhaps it's not so strange...maybe it is as strange as asking would I (or any person) be here had an earlier event had a different outcome? For example: had my great-grandfather had taken the left turn instead of right on such and such morning, would I be here? Would my father?
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it's very powerful, and very eerie.
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that's amazing !!
Try s0 hard t0 feel , everything that makes me real ! all the happiness that I never feel !
speak to hear my mind , sleep to dream on , dream of a life that I never live !!!
my first impression !!
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gorgeous photo! 
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It is indeed.
It feels strange to say thank you, but I appreciate the comment!
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This jus loox like an unborn baby boy in 6 months
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Checking the fetus development, it does look like it...
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I like your own comments, I like your own way of thinking, I like your own point of view taking pictures... Beautiful mind.
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You're a sweetheart!
It means so much to me that you think that
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ow you welcome...
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Im speechless and i feel a sense of sadness that this baby was never given the chance at life 
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Very much appreciate your comment...thank you...
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Stumbled upon this and read the entry...first thought before i even read it...'how sad'...a life that could have possibly done amazing OR horrible things in this world, sitting in a jar. And the words in the poem speaking of wheat fields & mountain passes...galaxies...things I've always wondered about & considered indescribably awesome to learn of & experience in this life, that soul will never know of. Life is full of hardships & pain...but it is also filled with moments of happiness & impossible made possible. Thank you for sharing this!
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I understand when you say it's sad when thinking about the amazing things it could possibly do...
But why is it sad when you think of the horrible things it could have done?
Who knows what could have happen. It's definitely sad at the moment, right now. But we have no knowledge of the future. Perhaps there is good in how things has happened.
Thank you for the comment.
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wow. just wow. i love what you wrote, "there is no other world.". that does explain this very well. my friend once told me that Britney Spears' sister got pregnant and she was only 16 and she was gonna keep the baby. she sounded so amazed and shocked, i asked her what was so shocking about it, and she said that at that age, keeping the baby is stupid. i'm not gonna argue with her, everyone has their own opinions, but i could never kill something that is growing inside me and that i have given life to...
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I don't think I have much part in this but I really appreciate it. When I was there looking at it in that quiet room, I knew it was special, but I never imagined it getting this much attention.
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This...is absolutely amazing, and the title matches it perfectly. I've always been interested in the medical field and physiology, especially things like this...it makes a brilliant and dark photograph.
what university do you go to?
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I want to say thank you, but it feels wrong to say about this...
I appreciate the comment though!
I go to University of Toronto.
Do you wish to pursue medical field / physiology?
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absolutely, I just need to find out what I want to do in the field
what is your major?
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