It’s a gross understatement to say that the last week has been difficult for all of us; whether you are suddenly having to manage restless school-aged children at home, struggling to access necessary goods or services, if you’re feeling isolated, or feeling terrified about the potential collapse of your small business, the economy, or society as a whole - or any of the other complicated and difficult issues we find ourselves in the middle of - none of this was scheduled. Our resilience and resourcefulness is truly unbounded, and that doesn’t mean that we don’t find ourselves at the breaking point more often than ever. Social isolation exacerbates all of this and involuntary social isolation adds an additional layer - helplessness.
I’ve been swimming upstream all week. I have held – and still do! – that we must be in community. That, with proper precautions and good sense, maintaining face-to-face community is essential. And that distancing from the people and groups who sustain is, is the last thing we need right now. I’ve encouraged visits to my house as well as gatherings of four or five friends. I have even – gasp! – gone to restaurants. As the days go on, and the aperture of social life continues to narrow, my behavior has felt increasingly subversive. I have had to realize, startling minute by startling minute, that the course of this shared viral experience has been set and must flow as it will. I know it is more complicated than this, but if feels like fear is having its way with us.
I am tired and it is tempting for me to cease my upstream swim and rest on the shore. I still have a few willing compatriots who will join me for a walk in nature or an in-person chat, but, like most of you, the majority of my individual in-person connections and all of my life-affirming small groups have been suspended. The blog post I wrote just last week extolling the virtues of hugging, reads like a time capsule from a far-away age of innocence. When I wrote it, I felt shock and anger and frustration at how quickly and tightly we had let fear grip us and how little questioning was being done about the outlines we were asked to follow. How quickly we let the media teach us a new language (‘social distancing’, ‘flatten the curve’, ‘out of an abundance of caution’) and how quickly we acquired its characteristics. I still feel angry and frustrated but I think I am finally coming out of shock. Thank goodness, because there is good work to be done.
Please take a few moments and vision with me. Break the flow of fear. (You can get right back to it if you choose, I promise!) Set a five minute timer and vision the world at its best, as beautiful and full as you can see it. In your vision, fill this world with whatever you know of love, of kindness, of compassion, of prosperity and possibility. See us at our best. Hold this vision in your mind’s eye and let it comfort you. Write down a few words that come to you or perhaps draw something on paper. Please consider sharing this vision with others in whatever way works for you. And consider sharing your vision in the comments below for others to enjoy.
This visioning is not an escapist tactic to avoid reality – this is an Act of Creation.
Let love have its way with you.