When Jean Leidloff went to live in the jungles of South America with the Yequana Indians, a Stone Age people untouched by so called "civilization," she had an eye opener that changed her life. What she has to tell in the Continuum Concept-In search of happiness lost, the book she wrote as a culmination of her research, just might change yours too.
Observing how this society functioned: happy, well-adjusted, sociable, the children friendly, never quarreling. Missing was the longing and restlessness, the emptiness and often felt dis-satisfaction that we are heir to in the modern cultures. This startling difference began a questioning and examination of Leidloff's previous assumptions about life- assumptions such as "progress is good", "man must make laws to live by", "work is bad", "a child belongs to its parents", etc.
These people were doing something different. They were living the principles that have kept our human species on this planet for millions of years-they were honouring what Leidloff termed the ancient continuum.
Nature does not program for failure. In contrast, our own unnatural work is making the earth inhabitable.
Some how, we have forgotten how to live, we have forgotten what our true expectations are, "thinking ourselves lucky if {we} are not actually homeless or in pain." Well being and wholeness are distant spectres, out of reach.
Key to the idea of the continuum concept is expectations: "the human continuum can be defined as the sequence of experience which corresponds to the expectations and tendencies of the human species in an environment consistent with that in which these expectation and tendencies were formed. It includes appropriate behavior in and the treatment by, other people as part of that environment. "
Our very design speaks to expectation- " lungs - expectation of air, eyes expectation of light rays..., waterproof skin and hair-expectation of rain, the list goes on. In the womb everything goes according to the expectation of our million years old continuum, no big changes from what our ancestors experienced.
But then, what happens to a baby born in so called "civilization" is a far cry from the baby born in the continuum culture of the Yequana. While baby's expectations are alike in both cultures, that is, prepares her to take her place in arms, as the continuum dictates (and as any mother who is used to listening to her instincts rather than depending on her intellect knows); what instead happens to the so called civilized baby is a series of confinements- be it in a cradle, stroller, buggy, swing, pen, carriage, - anything to discourage ‘too much' handling lest the baby become "spoiled." The advice is to let the baby cry because it won't hurt him. This is completely against the baby's expectation, therefore, against the continuum.
The Yequana baby is hardly ever apart from the mother or main caregiver- baby sleeps with her, baths with her, is carried by her while she does her work or socializes. The baby's expectations for motion, action, sudden stops and starts, voices, a range of situations and changes etc, are fulfilled. All this while baby is held safe and secure by busy mom in the midst of her busy community life. The child is included, but on the periphery, not as the focus, nor neglected in a pretty room where nothing moves save for the Disney mobile.
Liedloff stresses the importance of the period immediately following birth, as it is " the most impressive part of life outside the mother's body... each later impression can only qualify to a greater or less degree, the first impression when the baby had no previous data on the external world." When the complete in-arms experience is concluded the baby moves on to new expectations and desires secure in the knowledge that they will be fulfilled.
As the child grows, it is expected to take care of itself. The baby's self reliance grows rapidly because it is unhindered by over anxious parents. The expectation is that no person wants to kill themselves since self preservation is part of the continuum. Every person is his or her own person, No person tells another what to do. Such hierarchy is unheard of. And each of these expectations are extended to include babies.
Yequana children are undemanding of attention- they have no store of longings- so complete has been the in arms experience and their on going experiences. The Yequana believe that " one of the deepest impulses in the very social human animal is to do what s/he perceives is expected of her/him." They believe people want to be of service, want to co-operate, and if they do not it is because they do not know it yet, but will eventually. With this attitude, there is no need for coercion, pressure, no impulse to influence another person. There is seldom any need for sharp words or anger. Children learn social and practical skills by imitation, and practice, not by being "taught."
Jean Leidloff, psychotherapist as well as writer, has written this book with compassion for her sisters and brothers in the West, and with deep insight in the ways of the Yequana Indians, without implying that we should return to the Stone Age. Clearly it is her hope that we might adopt some of the ancient methods of child-rearing and living together, respecting each other and the environment. Certainly, one of the best but most difficult lessons we have to learn from the Yequana is the lesson of trusting our children to learn and to believe in their ability for self-preservation and their innate sociality. Leidloff contributes a chapter of suggestions on changes we can make to get the continuum "back to work".
In-arms deprivation and its repercussions, which Leidloff generously outlines in her book, has been the lot of far too many of us in the over-developed world: it need not be for our children.