In his book, The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis offered this evocative defense of his writings on the themes of mythology, theology, and adventures into the realms of the creative imagination:

       "Do you think I am trying to weave a spell? Perhaps I am; but remember your
       fairy tales. Spells are used for breaking enchantments as well as for inducing
       them. And you and I have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake
       us from the evil enchantment of worldliness which has been laid upon us for
       nearly a hundred years. Almost our whole education has been directed to 
       silencing this shy, persistent, inner voice; almost all our modern philosophies
       have been devised to convince us that the good of man is to be found on earth."

Lewis wrote to confront his generation lost undertone spell of MATERIALISM that Lewis calls "evil." Now, today, our generation is also materialistic, only worse. Materialism continues to enchant us with the 10,000 distractions that money can buy and the human soul can absorb until we become bloated with the ugliness of physical corpulence.

Materialism fuels the engine of our cherished free market system. We enjoy our toys, our comforts, our novelties, our costumes, our conveniences. We have come a long way in the relatively short time between the laborious squeezing of our wagons plodding westward and our rocket ships propelling to the moon, to Mars, and beyond. Nor has it been only a venture of self-serving greed. Much good has been accomplished in the development of the materials of our life. But materialism becomes bad when it possesses our souls and we fall under the spell of its enchantments.

Materialism, however, would likely be named by Lewis as only on elf our enchantments that beguile us today. I suspect he would also include EMPIRICISM, RATIONALISM, and LIBERTARIANISM. 

Consider the enchantment of EMPERICISM. Not only do we love our toys. We love to measure things; we love order, predictability, a sense of control, a a capacity to master things, to explain them, make them "work." We love to be able to demonstrate results so that we can justify our requests for large grants that will enable us to measure more things large and small, things cosmic in scope and infinite in depth. It is the way of science that formulates hypotheses, set up experiments to test the hypotheses, monitor and measure the parts and pieces of the experiment and draw conclusions that make possible newer inventions, developments, and even medicines that come to our aid in times of pandemics that threaten our existence. Empiricism serves many worthy ends by which we understand nature and our place in nature; but empiricism slides off the rails when it reduces humanity to objects in an experimental lab.

And the same is true of another enchantment, RATIONALISM. Unlike empiricism that measures experiences, rationalism begins with the structures of reason and thought. Looking at the nature of mind and the way our thoughts proceed within the contours of reason, rationality may be considered a safeguard against "emotional reasoning." In this sense, rationalism has brought us out of the swamp of superstition, age-old prejudices of race and gender, witchcraft, and fundamentalist views of creation. Not only can we think, we can think about the ways in which we think and come to conclusions. Arising in the 17th century as part of the advent of mathematical reckoning, rationalism helped not only to explore the outer world but also contours of human consciousness. However, when rational decision making and problem solving fail to take feelings into account, rationality ceases to be humane.

But it is the "enchantment" of LIBERTARIANISM that threatens us more directly today and may be seen as the underlying dynamic of the attack on our nation's Capitol on January 6. Of course, who does not love liberty? "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty," we sing. Liberty is indeed sweet, and precious lives have been lost defending the liberty we enjoy. However, in thinking about what liberty means, I find two very interesting definitions (from The Oxford English Dictionary): 

       1. "the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed
           by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views." 
       2. "the power or scope to act as one pleases." 

And libertarianism is defined as (same source as above): 

       -  "a political philosophy that advocates only minimal state intervention in
           the free market and the private lives of citizens."

If we tease out the key element between the idea of liberty and libertarianism, it would be the question of "oppressive restrictions at the hands of the state or authoritarian individuals." The matter thus becomes: When does my expression of liberty conflict with your expression of liberty? When two automobiles rush from opposite directions toward a busy intersection where there are also pedestrians trying to move through he intersection, not everyone may act as he/she pleases if a major disaster is to be avoided. 

Obviously, in this simplistic example, someone has to yield. And for that to occur, some "authority" will have to determine the process and ensure it is followed. One does not have the liberty "to act as one pleases" within human community. Always, the concern for the common good shapes the laws and ethical behavior of a nation, just as human personality is shaped by the nurturing care of parents who teach their children to share and to live by the norms of justice and mercy for all.

In the extremes of libertarianism, however, a very regressive attitude guides individuals and groups to lose sight liberty in the service of a common good with justice and mercy for all. These individuals live under the spell, the enchantment, of an authoritarian, entitled resentment of all persons, groups, and laws that place boundaries around their infantile idea of freedom.

This is the evil of which Lewis warns us, button only regarding materialism. It is also the evil of empiricism, rationalism, and libertarianism as well. Like all "isms," materialism, empiricism, rationalism, and libertarianism are indeed "spells," "enchantments," that dominate the human mind. And, as Lewis said, the power of such spells to dominate human thought, emotions, sensations, and behavior can be overcome only by an enchantment that is more powerful, an enchantment in the service of a higher power. What thatmihgt be is my topic for the next blog.

We live in a strange bubble of "babel." I take the word, "babel," from a reference in the Bible's book of Genesis to the infamous "tower of babel." You may remember the ancient story adopted by the writer of Genesis (Gen. 11:1-9) about humanity's attempt to erect a tower that would reach up to heaven but the builders could not finish the job because they did not speak the same language. The words spoken sounded like what we have come to call babble -- nonsensical uttering that carry no recognizable meaning.

This mythical story lives on in our psyches as part of our religious heritage. The lessons learned in the biblical account emphasize the folly of what happens when people do not understand each other. However, there are also other underlying themes which the Genesis story presents. 

For example, the writer offers the idea that the diverse languages spoken around the world came to be because the people speaking different languages at the tower were dispersed around the world as a punishment for trying to build a tower to reach heaven and be seen as heavenly beings. In other words, the human attempt to build such a tower was an act of hubris, to become like God. And in an almost comical reference, the writer adds:

            The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had 
            built. And the Lord said, "Look, they are one people, and they have one
            language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing
            that they propose now will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down
            and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one
            another's speech."    (Genesis 11:5-7)

But you notice in this story of the Tower of Babel that another very important theme slips in. It is this: the Lord does not trust the human beings working on the tower. They must be up to no-good, and if not with the tower, then eventually they will do something even worse than building a tower up and into heaven. In other words, human beings are not trustworthy, at least, not so in the Lord's eyes.

However, this was not the conclusion as stated earlier in the first chapter of Genesis: "God saw everything he had made, and indeed, it was very good." (Genesis 1:31). And so, we may ask: Is humanity trustworthy or not? On the one hand, they are part of creation that is "very good;" but on the other hand, they can be trouble-makers and "nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them."

These opposing points of view arise from two different creation accounts, appearing at different times in the emerging consciousness of the biblical writers. And dragging this dichotomy of belief through the centuries, we arrive at the present moment when we are split. We ride the see-saw of expectations as to the essential nature of human personality. Are we essentially trustworthy or untrustworthy? Do we intend to do the "good," or do we do the "bad" when it serves our interests, while hoping no one will really see?

Meanwhile, our towers of babel go up and down. We cast a leery eye over at our neighbors' homes, yards, places of work and play. We believe in providing assistance, just not too much so that they remain somehow in check, because -- heaven knows -- they might get out of control. After all, in our rise to power we have developed the know-how and gathered enough resources that we can indeed destroy and be destroyed.

But let us also remember this. We create, build, and finance hospitals, universities, museums, playgrounds, works of splendid beauty, symphonies of space-transcending heights and depths, police and military forces to keep peace and protect boundaries, democratic institutions and codes of law that uphold and protect the noblest ideals of a civilized people.

Humanity cannot be considered to be essentially bad. And so, we press the pause button during the Passover and Easter season to reflect upon the story of the Tower of Babel as a lens through which we see the horrific experiences of our past several months: the pandemic's toll of human life and resources, the flood of refugees seeking safety and high ground when their habitats disappear, the pervasive failure to control gun violence, the daily litany of people shot to death, and the divided will of a people to affirm the essential goodness of human nature.

Now the question of humanity's trustworthiness comes down to what each of us can do: We can trust.

We must trust that our essential nature is good, that we are trustworthy. We must learn to act trustworthy toward our children because they can learn that they are trustworthy only if they experience what it is to be trusted. We must act trustworthy toward our governments and institutions of civilizations who can govern and manage in a trustworthy manner only if they are trusted. Trust is not a license to do whatever you and/or I want. Rather, it is a psychological, spiritual, and moral impulse to act according to our essential nature, and to live with the consciousness that when we do not live in this manner, we suffer the consequences of having to restore a broken trust. This is our privilege, our challenge, and our opportunity to undertake the process of transformation consciously. 

As the old alchemists understood, this is indeed a great work, a Magnum Opus, laid upon us. It begins with confession or the honest recognition of who we are and what needs to be done. Next comes illumination which is the gathering of "in-sight." Then we undertake education. Education means more than acquiring a skill for a trade. Education means to develop our mental, moral, social, spiritual, and psychological capabilities toward the end of fulfilling our potential as trustworthy human beings. Only then is the fourth stage of the Great Work made possible: transformation.

Why transformation if the person has been educated already? This is because education alerts us to the dilemma of the Genesis stories: the Tower of Babel teaching of not being trustworthy, and the Genesis story of creation as good and trustworthy. This is a choice you and I must make each day. As we make the choice and commit ourselves toward the realization of life as trustworthy, we assist in moving creation a little further toward the fulfillment of human potential and consciousness. 

The coronavirus, COVID-19, continues its deadly sweep through the world, leaving behind, as of this writing, over 500,000 deaths in the US, and 2.5 million worldwide. Some authorities tell us the tapering numbers at present suggest we may begin to see signs of normalcy by summer's end, marking a period spanning some fifteen months that seem like a lifetime to many of us suffering from the "cabin fever" of ongoing quarantines worldwide.

And then there are the many who have suffered not just cabin fever but the greatest pain of all -- the death of family members and friends. To them, our hearts go out with inexpressible words for their tragedies.

So what have we learned from this grievous trauma we still are enduring? It is true that we observe the raw politicization of a medical emergency. The simple acts of washing hands, maintaining a safe distance and wearing masks have been exploited by some who disrespect the heroism of scientific medical groups working day and night to develop vaccines and distribute them as equitably as our geographical, governmental, and economic boundaries permit. It is true that some people seized upon the crisis of a viral contagion to sew rumors and mistrust. The hyper-paranoia of anger with and mistrust of well-meaning governmental officials and groups are fanned by social media, enabling displays of pseudo-defiance and fearful reluctance of others to act in the best interest of all. For God's sake, wear your mask; take the vaccine; endure the close of our bars, restaurants, theaters, and sports arenas!

But, of course, it is not that simple. We have been betrayed before. And now that everyone has an opinion about everything and a loud bullhorn that competes with others for the most attention, we can easily get lost in the soup of common ignorance.

So,what have we learned? At the end of the day, when we step out of the din of clamorous, blatant, boisterous, obstreperous, strident noise, we then listen to the muckraking investigations of our souls. We do know right from wrong, we do recognize falsehoods and phonies, and we do value the authentic voice of reason when it comes from the heart and speaks the truth of our soul. And are we not tired of the news sources that peddle sensationalism, fear, and paranoia?

So what have we learned form the pandemic? What has the pandemic exposed? What we have learned is what we already knew. What we have learned is what most of us have based our lives on. It is what is encoded within our religion and our democracy. It is anchored within our holy scriptures and embossed on the seal of our nation's motto.

What we have learned again is that we are one, really one. The virus COVID-19 does not attack just one race, one continent, one nation, one government, one religion, one sex, one gender, one age, one people. Each of us is vulnerable. There is no one, there is nowhere this aggressive coronavirus cannot reach. We are a common humanity, a common target of COVID. 

As I said, the fact that we human beings are one people is not new to us. However, the pandemic has exposed our common life and our common vulnerability in a way that has gotten our attention. Our hubris took a blow; our optimism suffered an eclipse, and our hope for a prosperous future with unimpeded growth and success pressed the pause button in our race to the future. We have been led to rethink some choices of what the good life is: what it means to be alone, how much we value relationships, and the fact that we do not have forever to say to one another that we do care.

We are finite and small, living on a small planet traveling at a speed roughly of 67,000 miles per hour around the sun while spinning at approximately 1,670 mph (measured from the equator in both cases), while the sun and our solar system is moving at a speed of 448,000 mph; while our galaxy as a whole, the Milky Way, is hurtling through space at 70 miles per second. Our solar system will take some 230 million years to travel all around the Milky Way as it presses onward toward another galaxy, the Andromeda, which is rushing to meet us in millions of years.

These facts simply throw light on the immensity of this cold, dark universe "in which live, move, and have our being."  It is a lonely journey, but we are one people. And we need each other, not just to combat the enemy of a very tenacious virus determined to kill us. We also need each other to bear with consciousness the burden of our solitude, not to depend upon distractions that divert our attention from our fateful rendezvous with the far reaches of our universe and the dangers that await us along the way.

This is a moment of one such danger that threatens the survival of human existence. And all along the way we have been being prepared with the realization that we are one. In religion, our evolutionary consciousness moved from the stage of polytheism to a monotheism with many faces. In geography, we have moved from a world of continents separated by deep, mysterious oceans to the prospect of a planetary consciousness. In the areas of race, we are developing a consciousness that the color of our skin cannot separate us. In our politics, we are learning that the demonization of any one group threatens the possibility of the other party to govern. And in our astro-physics, we see that the very planet on which we live, as viewed from outer space, is imperiled by the abuse of our waterway, our varied land masses, our vegetation, and the poisonous gases that hover over our heads and destroy the very air we breathe.

Here within our United States, we have pondered the meaning of our common existence by forming and restating the mottoes that adorn our governmental buildings and seals. In 1956, Congress adopted the motto, "In God We Trust." And we also have on our coins E Pluribus Unum, "Out of Many One."  Another motto considered was Annuit Coeptis, "He Approves the Undertaking." 

But one motto has received little attention: Novus Ordo Seclorum, "New Order for the Ages." Still we are struggling to claim the promise of this New Order, while the world waits and the pandemic does battle with our destiny.

I am dependent upon Charles Dickens for my title of this blog:

      It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It was the age of
      wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the each of belief, it was
      the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of
      darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. 

Hard to believe Charles Dickens (1812-1870) wrote those lines in his novel, A Tale of Two Cities, published in 1859. It reads like something that could be written in any one of our daily newspapers. There is something strikingly similar about our present situation and the time in which Dickens tells his story. Dickens chose the conditions in France which led to the French Revolution (1789-1799) and what has been named the Reign of Terror, a period of calamitous upheaval among the people of France who struggled to find a balance of power in the dynamics of freedom and responsibility, of suppression and recognition of peoples in all the varied strata of human society.

Those epiphanies of what it means to be human being and to live out the grandeur of life in all its multi-fold moments -- these occurrences of such kairotic moments do not come  frequently with full force. But they do come and probably more frequently than we take note of "seeing" them. "Seeing" depends upon perception but also upon being conscious of what we are "seeing" and the possible meaning of what we are "seeing."

Three instances come to mind. The first goes back 388 centuries to Galileo's confrontation with the Church authorities who would not look through his telescope. The leaders feared what they might see if they actually studied the relation of the earth and sun. The Church's geocentric view was based not upon the scientific study of the sky and the dynamism of the earth's movement. Religious orthodoxy determined what belief was acceptable, and scriptures were thought to teach that the sun revolved the earth which was planted by God in the center of the universe and was unmovable (1 Chronicles 16:30; Psalm 96:16; Psalm 104:5; Eccleseiastes 1:5). 

Given such a world-view as ordained by the Creator, heliocentrism was condemned as heresy, and anyone who taught otherwise could be put to death or tortured as a heretic. So, when Galileo (1564-1642) said basically, "see for yourself," the ecclesiastical authorities refused. They refused to look through Galileo's telescope. Keep in mind also that this ideological "blindness" came 90 years after the Polish astronomer, Nicholas Copernicus, had already described the movement of the earth around the sun in his book "On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres," published in 1543, and also banned by the Church. 

The Church's theologians not only wouldn't "see" what the science of their day was pointing to, they could not see that their scripture was/is not a book of science but a sacred story of the human soul's longing for depth, meaning, moral guidance, and hope in the face of life's tragedies. The frightening situation Galileo faced was the age-old dilemma that haunts us today: the failure of persons to "see" when their perceptions are stuck within a world-view shaped by an ideology arising from centuries of distrust and fear of persons who differ in race, gender, belief system, skin color, and place of origin.

Which brings me to my second instance when not "seeing" creates a crisis -- this one not between an individual as with Galileo and Church authorities. My second example is what happens when a society itself becomes fractured into opposing groups. This is what we saw on January 6, 2021, when the US Capitol was attacked by hundreds of individuals, resulting in the destruction of property, the death of five persons, and the invasion of private, revered spaces by rioters who threatened to kill elected governmental officials.

The attack in daylight was observed by people around the world. In fact, the number of people who saw the attacks is staggering. There seemed to be no effort to conceal the hideous action. Rather, rioters posed for pictures and appeared to relish being seen within the inner chambers of our nation's Capitol where government business is conducted without the glaring spotlight of public viewing. So, yes, what many of us saw was disturbing to the core of our being.

But now we are contending with people who did not "see." They looked but did not "see;" they even experienced looking directly into the face of violence themselves, but they did not "see;" they witnessed the criminal acts of breaking doors and windows, of individuals beaten with flag poles, but they did not "see." Not only did the domestic terrorists seem not to "see." Now we hear people in leadership positions, persons who were present, claim not to "see" what happened.

Galileo's Church authorities who threatened him with torture and death did not "see." They wouldn't look into Galileo's telescope. The domestic terrorists and their protectors did not "see." It is not a telescope into which they could have looked. They did look. They looked into the screen of those media outlets that perpetuate misinformation and inflammatory conspiracy theories. They looked and looked but do not "see."

Finally, let me describe another observation which was seen but maybe not "seen." Indulge me here with a lightness of perspective that might help us to "see" something important in this troubled time, perhaps something for you to ponder when you cannot sleep late at night.

Here it is. On October 19, 2017, the telescope on the Hawaiian island of Maui picked up an object in the sky estimated to be around a quarter mile wide with a length of five times its width, shaped somewhat like a cigar. It sped across the sky leaving astronomers stumbling through their minds in a less-than-graceful pathway of unchartered explanations. Some considered the object to be a different kind of comet, which might possibly explain the brightness of the object tumbling through space, arriving from the direction of the star Vega, and passing out of our solar system. This very strange object was named "Oumuamua," which means "scout" in Hawaiian.

Oumuamua remains a mystery to this day. But now comes Avi Loeb, Professor of Science at Harvard. Loeb and his assistant Shmuel Bialy published a paper in which they made a case for considering Oumuamua as an object of alien technology.

Now Loeb has stated his case in more detail with the publication of Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth. Loeb is nothing if not bold in his conclusions of what he takes to be the sighting of Oumuamua and what it might represent: the presence of intelligent life beyond our galaxy. "It would be arrogant to assume we are alone," he says. 

In any case, I make no claim for or against Loeb's conclusions. But for the sake of this blog and my topic, I side with Loeb in affirming the value of paying attention to what we "see." The world has grown stale and turned in on itself. The life of the adventurous imagination, of mythic wonder, and the possibilities that continue to call to us from the frontiers of our mind -- all of this assists us in "seeing" how grand it is to be alive.

When the ecclesiastical authorities insisted that Galileo refute his statement that the earth moves around the sun, Galileo relented and settled for his sentence of house arrest the remainder of his life. However, It is reported that as he relented he muttered, "But, still, it moves." 

(See also Dennis Overbye, "Did An Alien Life-Form Do a Drive-By of Our Solar System in 2017?" in The New York Times, January 28, 2021.)

Here we are together again as this year draws to its sad end. I would rather not languish in the tragic, putrid, miserable experiences all over again. Once is enough for the pandemic, the serious illnesses, the deaths, the isolation, the separation from loved ones, the loss of the familiar -- all of this and more stirred into a frenzy by political machinations we would never have associated with our democratic republic. Yuk!

The experience has been not just a bad dream, but a sordid nightmare. Now it comes to an end. We count the days, we look forward to picking up the pieces of our shredded traditions and institutions; we wonder what will remain of the world we knew, and we tentatively begin to dare to dream once more of what life may be like on January 21st.

Our soul drifts between the two poles of our human extremes: our faithful heart and our devious mind. We know very well the soul's noble character in which we love and receive love, we practice hospitality and graciously receive it, we feel deeply moved not only from the suffering of people we know but also those we do not know except through stories passed on to us by the media or our friends and neighbors. We open our hearts to the stranger in need, to the suffering of our pets and animals in the wild. We mourn the loss of life and the threat to our environment.  We hold these losses within the compassion of our faithful heart that moves us to create a better world. 


But then there is the other side of our personal and national character, the extreme that lies in the shadow-land of our consciousness. This is what I am referring to as "the devious mind." Here in the little neighborhood where I live, each holiday season we decorate a Christmas tree at the open-street entrance to our comfortable but modest homes. The Christmas tree is one you might expect in thousands of neighborhoods across the land, although our tree would probably win the prize for the most unoriginal, plain, uncreative Christmas tree. However, we enjoyed the tree even though there was not much to it, just a natural, green tree with no ornaments except the strands of colored lights. But someone continued to steal the bulbs. Finally, now only a few days after Christmas, our desolate, lonely and rather drab Christmas tree has only a few bulbs left! Our chairperson of the Christmas tree committee sent to all of our neighborhood the rather discomforting news that he saw no other choice but to cut off the electrical power to the tree. Actually, not a lot of us had noticed that the lights had continued to get dimmer as the days of Christmas came and went. 

But it is the principle of the thing! It is not just that someone(s) were stealing our bulbs. For heaven's sake, we would gladly have donated lights to anyone who did not have enough bulbs for their tree. Really, it is not simply just "the principle of the thing." No. It is the devious act of stealing the bulbs that intrudes upon the Christmas spirit and anything else that might be regarded as holy in our secular, pluralistic world. 

Because of its secretiveness, its sneaky act of petty theft that seems to be not a vagrant act of desperation but more likely an act of spite, of deceitfulness, dishonesty -- this is what makes the act appear to be devious. It is too close to the surface of our human character not to remind us of something deeper in the archetypal layers of personality where dwells the shadow that is nourished by lies, dishonesty, deceit, and underhanded acts.

This is the extreme of human personality that dwells in opposition to the faithful heart. We have to admit there is something in us that is fascinated by the macabre, the bizarre, the conspiracy, the catastrophe, and the pompous liar who commands attention to fuel his dark insecurity. 

The threat of the devious mind is real and a threat to us personally and socially. But our faithful heart leads us to compensate in order to ward off the danger because the faithful heart seeks the good, the true, and the beautiful. Think of our schools, universities, military forces, police, governments that create and support democracies, hospitals, churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, museums, symphonies, and on and on! Against the forces that would lie and destroy the good in the world, the Good prevails. 

Are we assured the faithful heart will prevail?  Not at all. And that is what brings us to this moment just before the New Year dawns. This is the moment when -- are you prepared for this -- the moment when we sit down quietly to formulate our NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS. 

In this simple unassuming act, each of us knows on some level that this is a moment of truth when we choose between the faithful heart and the devious mind. 

                                  Thanksgiving 2020 -- A Meditation

The Covid-19 pandemic has seized the world, prompting us to act contrary to customs observed during our Thanksgiving observance. This year, we wear masks, practice social distancing around large crowds, limit travel, and encourage each other to remain in our homes.

This is so unlike any Thanksgiving we have ever known, nor does it help that many of us already are stir crazy from isolation: How much we take for granted the deeply spiritual blessings of greeting loved ones, sharing a special traditional meal together, catching up on happenings in the lives of old friends and family, debating politics, watching and snoozing during the irrelevant NFL game. John Donne in his 1624 Devotions says what we are now coming to feel in surprisingly deep ways: 

       No man [woman] is an island, entire of itself; every man [woman] is a 
       piece of the Continent, a part of the main.

Yes, we feel our connectedness. We feel this bond not only toward our family and friends, but also toward our nation and its democratic institutions. Maybe more this year than ever, we think of how very precious is our heritage, the ideals of life, liberty, and justice for which so many have suffered and died. And we realize how very vulnerable our democracy is, how it can be destroyed by the demagoguery of one mad person and the passivity of fearful followers.

But it is such great suffering at the hands of the pandemic that seems like we are in a state of war. Consider these numbers as of this date:

• Recorded cases of Covid-19

            + Global: 59,939,306
            + U.S.:    12,605,047

• Recorded deaths

            + Global: 1,412,669
            + U.S.:       260,065

Consider also the traumatic stress experienced by health-care providers, emergency teams, and at-home caregivers. Then, there is the additional matter of closure of small businesses, amounting to an estimate of 13 million jobs lost, and a rate of food insecurity that doubled between 2018 and mid-2020 in families with children. 

These numbers are severe, but for those families and the children, the experiences are shocking. Granted, trillions of dollars from the Federal Reserve and Congress shored up our economy; also, the large corporations do not feel the immediacy of loss of operating income as do small businesses and blue-collar employees. At any moment, however, a political crisis or even a long-term swing in the political climate that threatens democratic process with authoritarian control, could destabilize our economy indefinitely.

But what, you may ask, does this have to do with our dreams, or to ask the question another way, what do our dreams have to do with the current situation involving the markets, the pandemic, and the tragic escalating number of illnesses, deaths, lost income, bankrupt businesses, and a wavering political climate?

Here it is important to remember these premises in our work with our dreams:

1. We see only what we think we see. 
2. What we think we see is conditioned by what we think we have seen before and/or
    what we are told that we are seeing.
3. What is not seen may be important and even more important than what we think we
    see, and...
4. Our dreams see things we do not.

How could that be? It is because our dreaming mind has been "seeing" for untold centuries. It has viewed our little petty dramas from the vantage points of a distant past and a fathomless depth we call the collective unconscious. As a result, our dreams reflect not only meanings important for our survival, but anticipations of what these times may mean for the future. Our dreaming mind has witnessed the birth of worlds and the end of worlds.

Let me give you an example. Here is a dream from a teacher, a male, past mid-life, with a sensitive nature, and a sensitivity to current events. This is a recent dream.

          My wife and I look around the ruins of what seems to have been a building
       of some importance at a time gone by. The condition of the ruins makes it
       impossible to identify the building and its purpose. What stories did this
       now almost-destroyed structure contain? Had it served as a cathedral, a 
       hospital, a school, or a large auditorium for public, civic, or governmental
​       gatherings? Presently it seemed to be a gathering place for a small
       dwindling group, led by a young man strutting like a cheerleader hyping
       a sales pitch for some ill-defined purpose. But he has had enough. Nothing
       connects, and he concludes by announcing that he is leaving, and he abandons 
       the ruins.
          My wife and I take all of this in with uncertainty of what to make of it. We
       are just before leaving when a dozen-or-so people wander in and take seats
       as if they are hopeful that something meaningful might happen. Some are
       obvious couples, some single, along with a few small children who cling to
​       what must be their parents. What is going on here, I wondered. Who are
​       these people who come to this devastated place carrying hopes that they
​       might or might not be able to name. 
          My wife and I hold hands as we started to leave in a fog of conflicting
       thoughts and feelings, including despair and compassion. Compassion won. 
       I turned, looked at my wife, and said," What if we stay here and join these
​       people to make something of what remains in the ruins?"

The dream in many ways reflects our present situation and extends it into the future. Note that the building has suffered some damage to the extent that its purpose has been compromised. The purpose itself may have been shattered and remains only in ruins. Furthermore, the young man's use of the ruins as a "stage" for his performance rings as hollow as the remaining fractured walls of the old building. He gives up. The place and its reason-to-be seem to be lost. But just as the observing man is about to leave, he is surprised by the small group of people and their children, coming in with expectations perhaps that something of their past and future may be re-membered. And the dreamer throws his lot with the people, their memories, and their hopes for the future. 

We must not make of this dream some parable or allegory. However, even to the untrained eye, the themes of the dream may resonate with our current situation. A "world" has come to its end, and new life appears with a promise of new beginnings in which might exist love, hope, and courage for a new world's dawning.

For the dreamer, this was enough at the moment to assuage the depressive and anxious tone of his life when the world in which he grew up was ending. Maybe for now there is meaning to be found in the ruins. 

I write this blog just three days before what has been called the most important national election in the history of the United States. It may well be. At stake is the character of the United States, the survival of our democracy as we thought it to be as did people the world over, the protection of our constitutional and judicial processes, participation within international alliances for the well-being of the free world, a resolve to engage the systemic racism that shadows our credo of "life, liberty, and justice for all." There are more issues at stake, but you know them as well as I.

I reflect on the gravity of this moment as a pastoral counselor and psychoanalyst who has lived in the southeastern and northeastern United States, the east and west coasts, and have been privileged to travel abroad. My view is shaped by depth psychology and theology, a life-time with my share of suffering and joy, losses and gains. 

As far as my political views are concerned, whether I am a liberal or conservative would depend upon the vantage point of the viewer. My vulnerability is that I am not nestled within a regionalism or ideology that protects me; and my possible strength is that I am not nestled within a regionalism or ideology that encourages a conformity. 

All of that is to say that I view this present moment and potential crisis through a lens in which I am searching for a sign of our well-being that could be described as a mutual care for the common good. With all of our fractured factionalism and issues that divide us, is there a sign of our oneness, a togetherness in which we seek a common good? Given the ravages of a pandemic that, as of this moment in the world, has attacked 46,099,224 people, killing 1,196,788 -- 235,431 of these deaths in the United States, is there a sign offering hope we will prevail?

Surely we care, do we not? Surely we cannot go about our life with a business-as-usual attitude, can we? Surely there is a weight of so much death upon our psyches that calls us to look within at our basic humanity, is there not? Surely we do not expect our first-line support of care-giving by doctors and nurses to stand alone at the juncture of life and death, do we? Surely if we look within the depth of human personality we can find a capacity to move beyond the dangerous moment when political choices may impact human destiny for decades if not centuries to come, can we not? There is such a capacity within our human personality, is there not, and a sign that we can see at work right now? 

This capacity in human nature to overcome differences and work for the common good, where is it located? Do we find references to this capacity in the great religions? I think of Jesus the Christ and his escape from a culture soaked in an obsession with sin. First, he had to leap over the walls of the books of legal prescriptions, the Mishna and the Talmud, taught by the Pharisees to protect people from the sins of idolatry, murder, adultery and other transgressions enumerated in an extensive legal code. Next, Jesus went out in the wilderness and desert to hear John the Baptist preach about the deliverance from sin through forgiveness, a way of life that convicted Jesus of its truth to the point he chose the baptism of John over the legalism of the Pharisees. 

This understanding of human personality as one flawed by a corruption of sin was overcome by Jesus in a discovery of love as a principle of human existence that brings people together for the achievement of a common good and well-being. And, like Jesus the Christ, Buddha offered a way of hope that transcended human suffering.

However, it is with suffering that he begins in his announcement of the Four Noble Truths: (1) the truth of suffering, particularly as it is experienced in birth, aging, disease, death; (2) that there is a cause for suffering, namely attachment or craving for that which we want but which cannot have, or which we have but is ultimately impermanent; (3) a cessation to suffering, that like everything that begins, there is an end; (4) and the end of suffering. This end of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path that includes three areas: Wisdom (right understanding, right intention), Ethical Conduct (right speech, right action, right vocation), and Mental Discipline (right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration). And, like the intent of Jesus, Siddartha who became the Buddha, anticipated a development of the personality that culminated in loving-kindness.

How interesting, I thought, as I reflected on Christ and Buddha and their understanding of the human personality and its capacity, that those two prophets anticipated love would prevail at the points of human crisis and despair. But where do we see such  sign of hope in our world today? 

Then, as I watched the TV drama of long lines of people standing sometimes for hours, these people of all ages, races, and ethnic groups, as I saw them winding around in spiraling circles like mandalas unfolding around a voting site, I realized this is the sign. Something in these people, varied as they are, something in their deep humanity yearns for decency, honesty, truth, justice, fairness, a state of well-being for themselves, their parents, their children, and for all the strangers in that long polling line. 

Those long lines of people circling around voting sites, waiting for hours in sun and rain, heat and cold, sometimes laughing, sometimes anxious, sometimes dancing, sometimes standing quietly and thoughtfully, they expect that they can make a difference in a troubled world -- this is a sign, is it not -- a sign of hope.

How are you coping with the mess we are in? The "mess" I am referring to is a mixture of four ingredients: (1) the Covid-19 pandemic, (2) the systemic racism with its many tentacles, (3) the political insanity at the highest level of our vulnerable democracy, and (4) the environmental crisis that threatens rising sea levels, the destruction of human and animal habitats, a shrinking land mass, and a consequential ecological mass migration. 

Who among us can escape the emotions that flood our daily lives: anxiety, depression, loneliness, sadness, and anger. On the one hand, any of these emotions can possess an individual and necessitate clinical interventions. But on the other hand, these emotions can be helpful in the sense that they alert us to the realistic "mess" we are in, and also that we can do something about it. We may not be able to eliminate the forces at work in the mess that threatens us, but we can act to take care of ourselves spiritually and psychologically if we allow ourselves to feel the negative emotions and act quickly to apply "first aid." 

What do I mean by first aid applied to treat the overwhelming stress we are experiencing? I mean this: We are not helpless to respond to emotions that may seem at first to just be "the way things are," taking command of us, leaving us helpless as we sink in the dark pit of helplessness, negativity, and fear. As you read further, remember this, you are not helpless in dealing with your negative emotions. The question is whether you have the emotions or rather you let the emotions have you. And our "first aid" is a first step toward regaining stability and a state of centeredness in our lives. So let us begin. 

                                         PSYCHOLOGICAL FIRST AID

I am indebted to the World Health Organization for the list that follows as well as for that organization's very positive affirmations reminding us of the possibility of even thinking of psychological first aid. This is their list:
     Address basic bodily needs. What are the needs? What you would expect: food
     of the right kind (not just sweet snacks!), exercise, sleep, rest. Some of these
     you may already be practicing; but if not, the pandemic actually works in your
     behalf perhaps to allow for time and opportunities in establishing a routine
     that will serve you long after the pandemic fades.
     
     Avoid further harm. This takes two basic forms. The first is physical safety.
     Look at your living space and consider how you can make changes that protect
     you physically and also lift up your spirits. Sometimes even a rearrangement
     of furniture or hanging a poster or a loved one's photograph and/or artwork
     will do wonders. Secondly, consider your mind and what you are "letting" into
     your head. Not all music and talk shows are helpful. Consider a revaluation of
     what you are looking at and listening to. You have freedom to make changes in
     terms of both content and amount of time spent on news sources.

     Keep calm and carry on. Check in with yourself. Observe your breath which is
     a great regulator of how you feel. Press your pause button and take three 
     slow, deep intakes. Try breathing with a ratio of 1:2, for example, breathe
     in with a count of two, and exhale with a count of 4. 

     Set priorities. This is a matter of intentionality. How do you fill up your day
     and night? When we determine (1) what we must do, (b) what we would like
     to do, and (c) what we can do, then we can become intentional in our time
     management with schedules that will likely surprise you with all you can do. 
     Just be sure to allow for free time and things you know you enjoy.

     Connect with others. Yes, we need to observe the basics: wash our hands,
     wear masks, and maintain a safe distance while also not congregating within
     closed environments. But these are things we can do: arrange a meeting in
     outside spaces (our yards, driveways, parks, etc.); phone, ZOOM, and
     even consider writing a letter to an old friend or family member.

                                          SPIRITUAL FIRST AID

To the World Health Organization's list of approaches to psychological first aid, I am adding my additional thoughts about what we could call "spiritual" first aid. Our "spirits" are most vulnerable at this time. Already, more than 200,000 of our people in the United States have died within the first eight months of the pandemic. In other words, we are brought face to face with our mortality, our vulnerability, how quickly our lives can be taken from us, threatening us with despair and hopelessness. But, again, we are not helpless or hopeless in dealing with these most fundamental of emotions. Consider these resources: 

     The reservoir of the world's great library of sacred scriptures. After all, 
     humanity has gone through catastrophes through the centuries. All of these
     threats to life and meaning have prompted deep treasures of aspiration,
     transcendence, and ultimate hope. Not all texts strike us with the same 
     grandeur of meaning, but there are records of wisdom woven within the 
     annals of human suffering.

     Meditation. Do not close the door on this possibility for enriching your life. 
     There are so many ways to meditate: We may sit, we may move, we may 
     "lose ourselves" in something that calls out to us, we may reflect quietly upon
     a sacred text, we may watch a sun set or rise, we may walk in the woods, go
     diving, make love, attend a concert, go fishing, etc. This is not to say that
     everything we do is meditation, but that meditation may be anything we do --
     provided -- that we are guided by the Spirit within each of us.

     Participation in a community that recognizes and empowers our spirit. These 
     may be churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, or some other traditionally 
     recognized religious community. However, it may be some non-traditional
     gathering of seekers like ourselves. Also, as we are having to learn in our 
     present circumstances, our gatherings need not be in person. We are having
     to learn how we connect with others by the many technological media. Sure,
     we lose something when we connect remotely, but we may gain something
     else. Sometimes I detect a depth in the privacy of these remote gatherings 
     that seems to allow for the inner life of each of us to be present with that of
     another person.

     Dreams. It may well be that you already know the value and wisdom of our
     dreams. If not, you may let this time of limited physical gathering become
     one of listening to your dreams. There are many sources online that can 
     help a person get started. Then, gradually, you discover the language of 
     dreams, their archetypal symbolism gathered through the centuries, the
     patterns of meaningfulness, and the characters within yourself that you did
     not know were there: the wise old man, the priestess, the trickster, the inner
     female, the inner male, the spiritual guide, and more.

So there we are, some thoughts about possible sources of psychological and spiritual first aid. When this time has passed and a new world is born, we may look back upon these foreboding days as yet another move forward in claiming the great potential of our humanity and the possibilities for new life in a new world.













     

In my last blog of July, "Dreams at the End of the World," I shared a dream of the Japanese doctor, Terufumi Sasaki, one of the few persons who survived the atomic blast that destroyed Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Sasaki's dream came on the night preceding a cataclysmic shift in the world order, as well as that of the doctor himself.

I referred to the dream as a marker of that world's end, a world of Japanese empiricism, massive military battles that entangled East and West in violent conquest, and the pre-atomic world of nation states -- a time before the entire world could be destroyed by human weaponry.

But I also acknowledged that my use of the word "world" encompasses not just our planet's land mass and oceans. We live in many worlds and journey through several of them between birth and death. In this sense, "world" means the "story" in which we experience ourselves living at any given moment. For example, you and I are now living in a bizarre time of a pandemic, Covid-19, a minute aggressive virus that of this writing has killed 836,000 people, including 183,000 in the U.S.  Currently, there are 24,794,113 confirmed cases in 213 countries and territories, and 6,083 people are dying daily at this present time.

These figures give us a sense of our present story from the perspective of our health and medical status. However, our psychological story -- the story of our emotional, spiritual, mental, and social life -- that story is even more distressing. This story, our feelings about ourselves, how we treat others, how we treat our institutions of education, health, government, culture, and societies -- this story is distorted by an insanity of political aggrandizement, lies, misinformation, ignorance, and a willful refusal to recognize the validity and helpfulness of our scientists on the ground who are working to provide at least some basic guidelines for controlling the virus: wash your hands, cover your nose and mouth when in public, maintain a distance of six feet between yourself and the nearest person when at all possible.

When we follow those very simple guidelines, the rate of infection drops; when we do not, the rates go up. This seems simple enough, does it not? But it is not simple, at least here in our beloved country that has done so much to eradicate infectious diseases around the world. Now we struggle not to lose our way. 

This is a basic lesson in our evolutionary history. Down within our psyche dwells the basic instincts of aggression, a mistrust of the stranger from another "tribe," the settling of conflicts by battle, the fierce competition for resources of food, shelter, and love partners, competition for leadership within work and social groups, etc. All of these instincts developed to ensure survival in a threatening world, but now compete with the evolved qualities of mercy, kindness, cooperation, sacrifice, and love. So all it takes for the baser instincts to erupt and dominate us is for a sick or evil person to slip into a position of influence and power. It is a story as old as humankind.

Sometimes this happens through overt grabs for power leading to insurrections, coups, assassinations. But there are also times when the grab for power occurs by slight-of-hand within the democratic processes of the people who in good faith assume that the usurper also operates with honorable intentions for the common good. When this happens, the democratic processes can be manipulated with self-serving lies, control of information, promises to make life better, and attacks directed against would-be opposition. With mob-like chicanery, the usurper rallies followers who bask in the adrenaline-fed exhilaration and tinsel-thin glory of political power. However, make no mistake, the situation and the characters are dangerous because they operate with no moral center.

Here in this rough and brief sketch of the bizarre forces at work within our present situation, we see an intersection of the archetypal potentialities for good and evil, health and illness, care for the common good and the abuse of public trust. And when the dark forces prevail, we may find ourselves lost in a bewildering fog of anger, fear, hopelessness, resolve to find a way out, searches for like-minded people, and the ten-thousand hyper-active distractions that momentarily ease the pain and fear.

Throughout all of this insanity of our cluttered minds, however, one constant remains. That is our dreams. Of this we can be sure. And we can also be assured that our dreams bring some refreshing glimpse of a deeper reality than the mess of our waking life. In a practical sense, how does this work out when the dreams we remember appear to be so insignificant, so trite, like scrap images in the waste bin of our minds? But when we pull out the scraps of images and put them together as if we are organizing a jigsaw puzzle, we begin to see a coherent picture. When we study the pieced-together images long enough, the background emerges into the foreground, presenting something like a meaningful gestalt. It may take days, weeks, or sometimes months when we remember enough of our dream's images, when we consider their role as symbolic responses to the fearful, anxious stories we have been telling ourselves -- only then do we begin to formulate our soul's point of view.

And that point of view is compensation. A primary function of our dreams is to compensate our present situation by presenting a symbolic point of view from the depths of our soul where consciousness and the moral center dwell. Ancient cultures, including the Semitic, Greek, and Roman families of people, had some practice of oneiromancy (the practice of tending dreams) in order to receive messages from the deities or spirits who represented a superior wisdom.

One such example in the Judeo-Christian tradition is Jacob's dream at Bethel some four-thousand years ago. Jacob was the son of Isaac who was the son of Abraham, patriarch and founding figure in the ancient Hebrew literature. But Jacob was a cunning, dishonest man who deceived his father and stole the birthright of Esau, Jacob's older brother. Having created great, deep enmity between himself and his brother, as well as within his family, Jacob was forced to leave home and became something of a wanderer, seeking eventually to make his way to a foreign land where his mother's father lived and where Jacob hoped he might marry, have children, and begin his life again.

Along the way of his long journey, the wandering Jacob stopped one night at a Canaanite sacred place. Choosing a stone for his pillow he lay down to sleep. It may be that Jacob was in fact practicing some form of dream incubation, seeking counsel from some deity. This is his dream as recorded in the 28th chapter of Genesis. 

       And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of
​       it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending
       on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of
       Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon thou liest,
       to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. 
       ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- .
       And Jacob was afraid, and said, how awesome is this place! This is none 
​       other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

Four images stand out in Jacob's dream: the ladder, earth, heaven, angels moving up and down the ladder, and the Lord who stands above it. I will briefly consider each image and then reflect on how this dream compensates Jacob's situation, but also how this dream throws light on the role of dreams in an individual's life as well as that of the larger society.

Regarding the symbol of "earth" in Jacob's dream, it may be understood not simply as the physical locality of the planet, but as the "world" in which Jacob lives. "Heaven," then, is the location above Jacob, not just a spatial idea, but an inner reality of a higher consciousness. In turn, the "ladder" connects "earth" and "heaven," providing communication and relationship between the two spheres, guided by "angels" who serve as messengers that make communication and relationship possible. And above all of this is "the Lord," the God-image that the Hebrew people had not yet come to know fully. Jacob is at the beginning stage in the historical line of revelation and relationship that became known as the Judeo-Christian religion. Finally, these images so stun Jacob that he experiences the dream as an encounter with what he believes to be God. His truancy, deceptive behavior, and homelessness are compensated by this human-divine encounter that validates his existence with a summons to take responsibility for his life and his world.

This dream stands as one of many in the long Judeo-Christian account of its early beginnings, but it is significant because it occurs at the transitional point of one individual's life when his old world was ending and a new one beginning. Out of Jacob's experience came a long line of charismatic leaders, some honorable and some not, along the twists and turns of a history much like our present time in which archetypal forces of good and evil battle within the souls of a people for direction.

We cannot, and I will not, propose simplistic answers to our complex issues. But I continue to hold a conviction that at the heart of the mess we are in lives a moral center that appears in our dreams as images for understanding who we are, our place in the world, and what we are to do at this time.