We’re All In This Together
The pandemic outbreak of the coronavirus has changed our lives in previously unimaginable ways. The anxiety in the air is palpable as we all struggle with our fears of contracting the illness or unknowingly passing it on to others. We worry about how long this will go on and try to manage our fears of the unknown. We worry about aging parents, young adult children living away from home, those we know with chronic health concerns, hospital employees who risk their health in order to care for people in ER’s and in-patient units. We feel the daily stress of working from home while occupying young children.
The health concerns are real and serious. The magnitude of this disease is unprecedented.
We struggle to find ways to comfort ourselves and loved ones when our usual go-to’s are no longer available. Routines have been thrown to the wind. Internally we may feel a sense of disarray. We struggle to ground ourselves as we walk through the haze created by this surreal experience.
I find myself worrying and wondering how to understand and relate to this. I notice how easy it is to become scattered. I recognize it now as I endeavor to convey a heartfelt and meaningful idea.
Assuming that there is meaning in our shared experience provides some solace. Viktor Frankl, holocaust survivor and author of Man’s Search for Meaning, believes that searching for meaning keeps us attached to our humanity. He believed that even living under the greatest horrors and atrocities, we are capable of maintaining perspective, morality, and sensitivity. In other words, we are capable of remaining conscious – thereby, in touch with what makes us human. It is what connects us to our deepest selves and maintains our spirits as we endure terrible circumstances.
As I hold the fear and suffering, I wonder what the telos of this pandemic could be. In other words, what could the coronavirus be pointing us toward? What could it be helping us achieve? We can’t do life in the way we are accustomed. The severity and extent of this disease are calling forth a new response from all of us. The slogan that’s been adopted – we’re all in this together – may offer some clues.
Jung says that the symptom is part of the cure. He suggests that staying close to the felt experience of a symptom is part of the healing. As we open ourselves to the feelings and images that come, we are changed. As we turn over the feelings and images, they work on us. Like the way water works on a chard of glass. Over time, water softens and reshapes the sharp edges and creates a work of beauty.
What are the images at work here? Darkened office buildings, empty grocery store shelves, overcrowded hospitals, closed signs at playgrounds, no school busses, people wearing face masks, medical staff living in tents or garages to keep their families safe, neighbors walking in the middle of the day - waving to one another from across the street to ensure social distancing. Just to name a few. And the images come from dreams, too. Scenes of being in a hospital, wondering if the dreamer is sick, whether or not the dreamer has infected anyone, worries about getting treatment. Dark and foreboding, undefined shapes and colors move through our unconscious lives as we sleep.
What does it look like to turn these images over and over? For some, this turning over will take the form of writing; for others, artistic expression; for others, emotional conversations with a trusted friend.
We carry these scenes and pictures in our minds, hearts, and bodies as we navigate the complications of daily life. They affect us whether we are conscious of them or not.
I’d like to offer a few questions to consider as we go through this experience.
What is trying to be expressed through this phenomenon?
What is looking to be corrected or balanced by this situation?
How does this particular event comment on our society?
What perspective is missing that might offer a different way of viewing or relating to this virus?
What is being called forth from the individual in response to this pandemic?
The book, Animal Presences, written by Jungian analyst, James Hillman, comes to mind.In it, he devotes one chapter to Going Bugs!He amplifies the experience of feeling bugged through
story, dreams, and clinical anecdotes. We are familiar with the visceral reactions to the creepy, crawly, penetrating nature of bugs. He speaks to how allowing oneself to be affected by bugs produces a change in attitude. I am certainly not suggesting that we go out and infect ourselves with the coronavirus! At the same time, I believe that exploring this “bug” symbolically could offer some clues to what is looking to be re-balanced or re-ordered in our personal and collective psyche.
It seems too soon to offer any speculation on the answers to these questions. However, Hillman’s approach of tolerating the discomfort and subjecting ourselves to the bugs may hold a pathway to enduring the social isolation and the fears of facing the unknown. It may also provide the necessary reassurance to explore our feelings, questions, uncertainties, associations and images related to covid 19. It is natural to shun the feelings and gravity presented by covid 19. In small doses, perhaps, over time we can allow ourselves to interface with the personal and cultural meanings of this experience. By suffering our relativization to this bug we have the hope of coming out more whole and more resilient on the other side.
