How to Take Advantage of a Crisis

​At this time, many of us in the Western world are coming out of our Covid cocoons, and are beginning to resume the communal activities of socializing with friends and relatives, sharing meals, and walking and talking without masks, given the recent CDC recommendations. Although here in the U.S., we’re experiencing a flattening of the COVID curve, as restrictions are being lifted, the psychological effects of lockdowns, loneliness, boredom, illness, job loss, and the grief that comes with these losses, lingers. The pandemic hasn’t ended, and neither has the pervasive feeling of uncertainty about the COVID variants that could possibly evade the vaccine’s protective barrier. Although more people are returning to work and schools, and businesses are reopening, many are still feeling the effects of the pandemic and are unsure about how to re-enter their new “abnormal” life.

                                             The New Abnormal

​At this time, many of us in the Western world are coming out of our Covid cocoons, and are beginning to resume the communal activities of socializing with friends and relatives, sharing meals, and walking and talking without masks, given the recent CDC recommendations. Although here in the U.S., we’re experiencing a flattening of the COVID curve, as restrictions are being lifted, the psychological effects of lockdowns, loneliness, boredom, illness, job loss, and the grief that comes with these losses, lingers. The pandemic hasn’t ended, and neither has the pervasive feeling of uncertainty about the COVID variants that could possibly evade the vaccine’s protective barrier. Although more people are returning to work and schools, and businesses are reopening, many are still feeling the effects of the pandemic and are unsure about how to re-enter their new “abnormal” life.

If we can recast our ideas and images of Covid in a new light, the familiar will feel less familiar, and that's a good thing. We might take advantage of the pandemic in ways we hadn’t thought of. The word crisis comes from the Greek, krisis, which is the turning point in a disease, a time when change must come. In other words, a crisis suggests a decisive moment when a choice must be made. I invite you to consider the following reflections that suggest several inflection points where we could either make an habitual gesture or venture out onto new territory.
                                             
                                                   Initiation

In the pre-Covid era the familiarity of everyday life with its predictable routines and relationships gave us a layer of protection, an inner sense of certainty, security and safety. Our spouses, children, friends and extended family were part of this interior protection. They insulated us from the painful realization of our own separateness and aloneness. During this pandemic, fear of contagion, illness, loss of one’s job, the death of loved ones, and our isolation from friends might have robbed us of that buffer of inner protection and comfort. We now might find ourselves painfully reminded of our vulnerability.

From one perspective, this seems quite unfortunate, like being dealt a bad hand by fate or collective karma. Yet looked at another way, we could see this turn of events as an initiation, an invitation to embrace a more penetrating perspective. Due to the widespread reports and images of Covid related deaths, we’ve become more sensitized to the foreshortening of our lives. We could either defend ourselves through various forms of denial, or we can come face-to-face with the challenge to find personal meaning, value and purpose in our lives, as they currently are.

Life purpose or direction emerges from the deepest place within us. Contrary to our intentions, crisis can deliver us to our depths, opening up spaces within ourselves that we may not have visited for decades, or not at all. In spite of external circumstances, which can shape our deep purpose or calling, external situations do not have to rob us of our reason for being here. 

We must find a way reconcile ourselves with the unacceptable aspects of both ourselves and the world. If we refuse to respond to this challenge, we inadvertently create a painful emptiness in our being, which becomes the basis for depression, anxiety and anger and all manner of addictions.   On the other hand, when we allow ourselves to contend with our human need for meaning and purpose, it can liberate us from our stuck places and into a larger life.

                                     Open Psychological Space

When we’re provoked to move out of our comfort zone and into a new space for which we have no map, we could find ourselves resistant to step beyond our known world. This fear frequently camouflages itself in prematurely “moving on” with our lives without looking back. We don't allow an opening so that doubt, insecurity, and anxiety could speak their messages to us. Open psychological space is usually judged as negative, lacking in worth and value. But what if, in a spirit of discovery, we invited insecurity, uncertainty, or “not knowing” to experience and to understand what purposes they serve for us?

We might discover that freedom lies in not having to change ourselves, but in knowing ourselves more intimately. We could allow whatever wants to come out from the darkness into the light of awareness. Many of our experiences, when they took place this past year, were pushing towards meaning that perhaps we only partially comprehended at the time, or denied altogether. By opening to our emotional “demons”, we also open to our “angels”—the forces and energies moving within our deep mind that suggest a direction and purpose. By permitting ourselves to experience the increased threat of mortality and our increased vulnerability, we might feel more connected to our lives as a whole, and more connected with others.

                                                   Orderly Chaos

Many of us have looked on with horror and dismay at the uncontrollable spread of this deadly virus, and doubted whether there would ever be a return to normalcy. We witnessed how when people experience confusion, feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness, there’s a strong tendency to manufacture narratives that restore their sense of order and control. Consequently, we have entered a post-truth era, where many people hold fast to idiosyncratic narratives to make sense of an ambiguous world—with little regard for objective or verifiable truth. 

Yet, in view of this phenomenon, we could have discovered a new-found appreciation for the alternating rhythm of order and chaos, as we developed more understanding and tolerance for how people react emotionally when their bottom falls out. 

If we were willing to experience our feelings of vulnerability and uncertainty, and cultivated patience and tolerance during this difficult time— we might have tapped into an older, wiser, inner knowing. From that depth of knowing, we could see intuitively that there is no final victory of order over chaos, of certainty over uncertainty, or of clarity over ambiguity. This is the universal dance of yin and yang, the complementary polar opposites that are the root of all birth and creation. In spite of the inexorability of change, it need not dampen our pursuit for order and meaning, or our effort to create something of value that will outlast us, nor our benign acceptance of life’s imperfections and our own impermanence.

Instead of quarreling with the way things are, we can still make a life atop this dynamic of orderly chaos, or chaotic orderliness. We can adapt to the environmental changes brought about by Covid, stick to our life-enriching routines, maintain our friendships, and reaffirm that our lives still have purpose and value.

                                                       Authenticity

The closer we come to the sun—our inner light—the greater will be our shadow or imperfections. Like the ebb and flow of order and chaos, there’s no unilateral victory of shadow over light. Our feelings of self-doubt, or being at a loss for how to go forward often result from overly identifying with our shadows, and can eclipse our light. However, when we honor our authentic self, our deep inner voice (as opposed to our various belief systems) then the crisis of the pandemic can deepen our humility, heighten our sensitivity to both the preciousness and precariousness of our human life, and intensify our choice to love fearlessly. It is fearless love that takes the sting out of our fear of death, and allows us to embrace our life— knowing that it couldn't be any other way than the way it already is.