On Being Called IN

Pandemic, Panic, Pandemonium

It is here.
Now.
Whether or not we listened and believed predictions.
Whether or not we feel quarantine and social distancing and sheltering in place are over-reactions.
Whether or not we feel personally attacked by these limitations, or are crowing about civil liberties.
Whether or not we feel the need to seek conspiracies at the root, find someone else to blame.
Whether or not we can cope, or adapt, or endure.
Here we are.

Now that we all know the name of a specific strain of a virus that has been with us since the 1960's,
Now that we have all the toilet paper, and bottled water, and meat, and bread, and milk, and eggs,
Now that we have purchased all that there is to purchase to pad our enforced stay-cations,
Now that we have consumed all news bits and blurbs, educated ourselves with inflammatory headlines, glanced at charts and graphs, watched the ads for organic hand sanitizer, and bidets, and the best plague masks and ventilators,
Now that we can only order take-out from our favorite dinner spot,
Now that the foreseeable future of distraction has been foreseeably cancelled,
Now what?


There has not been a pandemic in our lifetimes. Anyone who might have survived the global spread of influenza in the early 20th century is over 100 years old, if they are alive at all. We do not have ready examples or stories of how to BE in times such as these. These stories were very likely told, probably even heard. But were they re-told?

Humans are perhaps the only animals with the capacity for storytelling. Witness some of the greatest stories ever told--the myth and creation cycles of indigenous tribal cultures around the world, of which the Igbo, Vedic, Celtic, Nordic, Slavic, Australian aboriginal, indigenous American cultures are just a few--all whose stories have been handed down from generation to generation (and sometimes captured imperfectly in written word) via the forgotten practice of oral tradition.

The human animal is living through what is known in many tribal cultures as The Great Forgetting. Modern humans in the post-Platonic world have lived with the belief that Man is superior to Nature. The moment Nature was demoted to the status of object, mankind altered their trajectory drastically. Objectified "things" become subject to dominion, they become commodity, can be owned and traded. The natural symbiosis is thrown out of balance. This is the root of Dis-ease.

Already, in the few weeks of human quarantine and isolating in place, nature shows signs of recuperating from this disease. In China, the air is clearer as factories remain closed. In Italy, skies are clearing, but so are the famed canals of Venice as motor boat and gondola transit is halted. Wildlife is returning now that the water is clear. Our planet, our HOME, can breathe freely for the first time since the middle of the last century.

We Are Being Called IN

What are highly contagious pathogens trying to tell us? Re-framed, we might ask, what is the wisdom of this illness? Spiritual and deep ecology philosophies strive to remind us of our interconnectedness, that we are an organism with a vast footprint in the natural world. Fear and anxiety are preyed upon by groups interested in maintaining the status-quo, those who profit from mass consumption of their products, and those whose enforcement of this philosophy has brought them some sort of power (such as political groups, corporations, religious organizations).

We are being being called in. The natural world is answering our forgetfulness with supporting documentation, as it were. "Sixty percent of infectious diseases are zoonotic--the originate in animals. " That we are susceptible is a not so subtle reminder that humans are not somehow superior--we are animals in an ecosystem. How we treat the "least" of us--meaning the rest of the animal queendom--can and does have drastic consequences for the human animal. Global deforestation has led to an increase in infectious diseases such as Lyme and malaria, and our economies have brought these and others like West Nile virus and SARS/MERS across the globe from their places or origin.

There is also speculation that life as we have known it will be forever changed by this pandemic, and that social distancing won't be for a matter of weeks, rather 18 months or more. Economies, individuals and the cultures we partake of will need to adapt and change, though they are already doing so (see, shut-in economy). But these adaptations only serve to provide us with more of the same--consumerism, disposable convenience culture, more trying to control our environment and outsmart or hack our nature.

The lasting solution is not there.

We are being asked to walk small.

Right Relationship

How can we make real, lasting adaptations that bring our ecosystem--that being the entire planet--into balance? How do systems and institutions move from imperialism and capitalism and models based on power, to a modern version of how we lived before The Great Forgetting? How do we bring ourselves back into right relationship and good stewardship of the land, creatures, and environment of our ecosystem? These are the questions I am pondering over the course of the next few weeks to months sheltering in place. 

I am thinking about a sustainable skills I might practice--sewing, cooking, growing my own food, making art, telling stories, meditating in nature, making natural medicines and teas, observing and learning from other plant and animal neighbors who share the places I also inhabit, remembering how to live on and with less, and discover what constitutes enough. I am practicing social media distancing, reading only vetted news sources, and these only occasionally. I am taking lessons from Hawk and Squirrel and Dandelion. Observing (the bird's-eye view), Industry (maintaining hearth and larders), Resilience (bloom where planted). I will take long walks in nature, in the small patch I steward, and in the local parks and green ways. I will visit the river and watch her complexion clear. I will see how life goes on, and know that all will be well, and all manner of things shall be well (h/t Julian of Norwich). I will connect with loved ones near and far in ways that are supportive, appreciative, and genuine as well as sensible and safe.

Such times as these, we must be the change agents, the balancing points, the examples. We will be humble and learn and share and expand, all for the greater good of all, as opposed to a few, or for just ourselves. Perhaps this new phase of human culture will be called The Great Re-memberment, or The Great Becoming. May it be!