Coffee with James: An Interview

Question:  What are your observations on the current global experience and pandemic?

I have been very reticent to talk or even write about this corona virus given that it seems to be all that everyone is discussing and thinking about - thus, giving it more and more energy and power. I do wish, however, to address the universal grief that is currently ever-present. Thousands of families, spouses, partners and friends have lost families, spouses, partners and friends or know someone who has recently passed away. Each of us have been bombarded with this daily covid information and cannot seem to escape it.The grief from this is ever present and now the corona virus has become its own entity. I deeply grieve for those who have lost someone and I am sure that you who are reading this grieve as well. Grief, however, has taken on yet another form which many have not been so willing to address. We have been “quarantined” for many weeks, wearing masks and social distancing from one another. For ( family, spouses, partners), we are spending more time with one another than we are accustomed to - and for many even desire to!Very few wish to talk about the grief these conditions are bringing up for them. Instead there appears to be “rationalization a plenty”. Being isolated and quarantined is not a new phenomenon. Many individuals have felt isolated far before the arrival of this pandemic, but there were numerous distractions available to keep these feelings at bay ( jobs, classes, socializing activities, dining out, fitness groups, etc). Currently those external distractions have vanished.How many of us have been self-isolated and quarantined from our innate truths, our deepest feelings? And how many of us have been silently grieving because of that? Yet why does it appear so few wish to address that this universal grief has actually awakened our own unhealed and unresolved depths of grief. This pandemic is forcing us to look at ourselves and reveal what we have previously wished not to see/ or be seen by others. What an opportunity now to come to terms with who we truly are, the illusions of who we thought we were, and gently release an attachment to how others perceive us. It has taken a massive pandemic to reawaken hidden wounds that have been denied.Once again, humanity has been shown the fragility of Life, how brief it can be, and how indiscriminate it truly is. Why are we choosing not to talk about this?What a missed opportunity if we refuse to put our self-denials, illusions, delusions and misguided rationalizations to rest by talking about them with one another; crying together as they are individually brought to the surface and healed. This then Is a powerful sense of community.What path will we choose from this potential gift given by covid-19? Who will we be when we look back after this pandemic has passed?Shall we talk about it?