What Kind of New World Is Being Born?

"And then, of course, there's the sheer fear of birth. So much blood to bring love into the world! The real Nativity-for Mary, but also for anybody hoping to bring new life onto the scene-is a shocking, grisly business, including, these days, an operating table and a tangle of bleeping machines. Only a fool wouldn't be a little scared. Who knows what'll happen? What kind of new world is waiting?"

""Fear not," he says, and, in a way, this sombre reassurance is the Yuletide message in drastic miniature. This kid Jesus will save the world, Gabriel assures Mary. But if you've only known the world as it is-small, dark, inhospitable, beset by imperial Rome-you might be right not to get totally excited about what comes next. One person's salvation might be somebody else's death."

The annunciation begins with an angel calming Mary with the words "Fear not," linking reassurance to a profound, ambivalent promise. The coming of Jesus is framed as potential salvation that could also harm others, depending on worldly circumstances. Childbirth is depicted as violent, bloody, and near-death, with modern births often mediated by operating tables and machines. Christmas is described as a season of waiting, arrival, tension, and paradigm-changing surprise. Cultural portrayals like Hamnet emphasize childbirth's proximity to mortality. Contemporary life feels like an unsettled birth, and many people are ceding cognitive, meaning-making work to AI tools indifferent to users' inner lives.

Read at The New Yorker