This was inspired by a YouTube short about the concept of “間” (“ma”) in Japanese culture/films. In a 2002 interview with Miyazaki (the legendary animator and filmmaker), Robert Egbert and Miyazaki talk about “間” or “in between space” that provides emotional depth in films that might otherwise become numbingly busy.

See additional information about that interview here: https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/hayao-miyazaki-interview

So that accounts for the first large character you see in this post. The second two characters are “媽媽” or “mama,” which is traditional Chinese for mother – since I am in fact a mother lol

The ways in which I’ve been forced to slow down since reaching this season of life have been overwhelming, and I find that both meanings of “ma” go hand in hand at this point in my life.

I also just about finished the book I was reading about Joseph Campbell’s lectures on the feminine divine, and I love the idea that “ma” or “mother” is the word for existence in reverse: “am.” According to Campbell, many female deities did not “create” the earth or things in existence. They literally WERE everything in existence. Their bodies were our reality, ie. the sky is Her body, the earth is Her body, I am part of Her body. The divine aspect was the existence itself and thus, everything was sacred.