transmitting pain, or transmuting pain

“Relationships must be fostered as far as possible and maintained, and thus a morbid transference can be avoided.”

                                                               Carl Jung, Cornwall Seminar, Pages 1-5.

All of us experience the absurd, the tragic, the nonsensical, the unjust… if we cannot find some way to transmute our wounds into sacred wounds, we invariably become cynical, negative or bitter… if we do not transform this pain we will most assuredly transmit it, usually to those closest to us…

                                                              Richard Rohr

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We are so focused on the transmission

of a virus

it has a name, Covid-19

we have some idea of what it can do

this enemy

that passes from person to person

state to state

nation to nation

we see the damage

we feel the damage

and yet there is a lot more floating around out there

than a virus

I had an exchange the other day

I will simply say, it did not go well

It ended with fragmentation,

and perhaps, the termination of some friendships

I was not the hero in this exchange

nor was the villain

neither were the others

there was just so much in the air

anger perhaps

or fear

and it struck me

afterward, just how much we carry, unawares

and how must we transmit, unawares

and the degree to which we project, unawares

chastened by that exchange I have found myself

focusing on awareness

and I have started to ask myself some critical questions

at least they seem important to me

Where did this come from?

This feeling, this thought?

Did it come from some place healthy, and valid

Or did it come from some place inside me where demons

Lurk and whisper?

Do I really need to say anything at all?

Really!

Is what I am about to say, or write,

Is this comment something that will actually help?

Will it actually contribute?

If need to say something,

how can I say it in a way that is not “loaded”?

Even if what I am saying is valid, and appropriate,

have I attached other things to that statement?

Anger, fear, ego?

If I were to hear or read my comment,

how would I take it?

What we be my “take home”?

What is happening is that I am learning a lot

I am talking/writing less

And I have having to make a lot of amends

What I hope, is that with all these “bugs” flying around

The one I catch, and the one I transmit

Is kindness