I once heard novelist John Green say that the most important thing for his creativity and vitality is to be in a learning environment. John actively seeks out places and people to learn from. It is a habit that he has embraced for many years with great results in his life. Whether he watches a YouTube video, reads an article, or has a conversation in the market, John wants every part of his life to mirror the ‘learning posture.’
For me his advice has been helpful as I adapted to life with covid as a part of my daily reflections and thought patterns. As I transitioned from not wearing a mask in early 2020, to refusing to leave the house without it for the rest of the year, and now as I slowly remove that mask in public, I have tried to continue to learn. Part of the learning that I wanted to engage in involved listening. Listening has helped me gather information and formulate a pathway to care for others. Listening has taught me a lot about myself and about other people during the pandemic.
The primary lesson that I have been learning relates to human loneliness.
While I was masked at the store, I found that I wished to speak less and less to other people around me. I kept to myself more often and kept my gaze along my immediate path only. While I still smiled at a cute child or humorous event in the store, no one saw that. No one identified with me. No one said with their eyes, “ha that was funny huh.” So I could no longer share what was funny or cute with anyone and made life so much ‘quieter’ and isolating.
But that time is quickly passing away. . . We are removing our masks because we are vaccinated. People are once again speaking to each other in public. Small talk once again takes place at Target, or Giant Eagle, or even in the parking lot. And while that sounds normal, I wonder if it truly is? As much as it can, life is returning to normal. Yet this shift toward loneliness resides in our souls still to this day.
In her autobiography, A Rocking-Horse Catholic, Caryll Houselander writes these words to us:
Realization of our oneness in Christ is the only cure for human loneliness.
For me, too, it is the only ultimate meaning of life, the only thing that gives meaning and purpose to every life.
Caryll’s conclusion came after she had a vision from God while riding on the train. In those train rides Caryll saw Christ in everyone. Absolutely everyone. The person having a bad day, the one briskly walking away, the one laughing with their family, all had Christ exuding out of them. As you read her story you can almost sense a feeling of solidarity happening between persons—even though they might have been unaware of it.
We truly are one in Christ, but I wonder as we transition to a life without our masks in public, if we are embracing the fact that Christ is the cure to the loneliness of the pandemic? Certainly it is not completely over yet. I hear and read often of the fear of a new strain of covid coming toward us. While I cannot do anything about that, what I can do is see that Christ is at work not just in me, but at work in the person next to me. I can witness to Christ’s presence and try to speak about it to others.
As we do so, I wonder finally if that will be the cure to helping us address our loneliness that was brought on because of the masks?
Blessings
Rev. Derek
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