This is "the beginning of something that will get worse throughout April and into May... and we've got to change our lives”, says New York governor, Andrew Cuomo.
As we find ourselves knee deep in the Coronavirus, I am grateful to the bones that it is Spring. A time of beginnings, of renewal, of hope-- Everywhere in this Ohio River Valley where I reside, the Earth resonates with new life.
What I have been unable to do in a discombobulated state of fear of the unknown are house projects, deep cleaning and organizing. What my body requires is fresh food and lots of walking. What my mind and spirit have been in need of is time to deal with loss, grief and feeling upended. As a tonic, I am a gardener noticing what is going on each new day as it relates to Spring. Welcoming the blooming bulbs and trees, planting pansies and cool weather vegetables and herbs. Trying to stay in the moment.
I am also struck by how the word “Corona’” is all around me, as something other than a disease. Corona is also the name for the cup or trumpet we see on daffodils.
With that good thought, I look deeper into that trumpet--- close and still enough to hear what it might be telling me. What is that melody it plays now?
This is the song of the daffodil that I hear.
As we experience the awakening of the Earth and our own awakening, we can expect this enormous change to also create chaos within us.
When a seed is planted and watered, it swells and bursts open so that new life can come.
When a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, enormous change also occurs. The caterpillar, who has been crawling on and eating its food source, wanders away from what it has been devouring. It finds a sheltered safe place for transformation. As the caterpillar who forms a chrysalis or cocoon is unable to move, it eventually dissolves into an organic soup. “Imaginal cells” that contain the blueprint of the flying creature to come are now at work. They threaten the immune system of the caterpillar, persisting and multiplying until they hit the point of no return. And we have a whole new creature that has no structural similarity with what it once was.
Great spiritual teachers enter into a “dark night of the soul” that also demands isolation. They have said yes to annihilation without any expectation that they will be resurrected. Their attachment to any ideas they have had of God dries up and falls away. The best thing to do is NOTHING, surrender, they say. Drop down into the arms of darkness, surrender to feelings of nothingness. Then an ineffable sweetness that seeps into our souls from the ground of our being can emerge, says writer and teacher, Richard Rohr.
Perhaps there is a deeper more authentic SELF that longs to rise up.
The corona virus which demands an experience of isolation is not unlike a seed buried under the earth, or the formation of a cocoon or a “dark night” of the soul. For those of us who say “Yes” to this transformation, for those of us who can adapt there is great opportunity for self reflection and personal growth.
The undoing of our lives provides rich fodder for new life. We are reminded of Victory Gardens, which were gardens created during WWII when fresh food resources were nil. As a reality, as powerful metaphors, gardens are places that have much to teach us. Everything we do in the garden provides spiritual insight.
On facebook, for as long as the coronavirus demands our attention, I will be posting from my own gardens. To inspire, to encourage, to dig deeper into the fodder of our own lives. Please join me. https://www.facebook.com/peggy.clair
New Eyes to See the Coronavirus