Emerge -Ramble Six

Preview Video

The Emerge Project was launched on March 28th, 2021.  My goal for the project was to bring us together to chart our individual and shared experiences as we “tentatively and tenuously” emerged from COVID. I’ll be honest, it was hard to watch the Ramble one video. My assumption (and I was not alone) was that by September, by now, we would be emerging into some sense of normality. On March 28, 2021, Massachusetts (the state I live in) had 1,017 new cases. Yesterday there were 4,299. Are we emerging from COVID? Are you?

It’s been a turbulent few weeks -  COVID numbers surging, the unfolding situation in Afghanistan, wildfires and hurricanes. To state the obvious, we continue to live in a time of great uncertainty, so perhaps with the ability of hindsight, (a word that came up a couple of times in Ramble Five’s contributions) I would have called this six-month blog series ‘The Evolve Project’ or ‘The Adapt Project’. When I read the previous five Rambles in preparation for the composition of this final Ramble, it was clear from the beginning how cognizant we were that the concept of an emergence timeline was arbitrary, if not false. This was made most clear in Ramble Three when you shared your thoughts around the question, ‘To what degree are you conscious that a window of opportunity is closing?’

Kristin:  Hum… this question stumped me. I don't see, in any way, the "window of opportunity closing." The process of evaluation IS just that, a process. And for me anyway, it isn't dictated by a 'maybe' deadline. It's about a serious framework of time to make considerations on which you base new, updated decisions. Even if those "decisions" change again in the future.

Su: As COVID has unfolded I have been wondering when there might be an "end". I'm starting to think that the real point is that opportunity is always there for the taking.

Ramble Four asked the simple question “How are you doing”? and offered contributors 20 statements to consider in response. ‘We are going to be living with COVID for a long time, we just need to adjust and get on with our lives understanding and living with some risk’ was selected by most. As we collectively came together over this realization, we were affirmed by Pauline Boss, author of Ambiguous Loss, who said, ‘The Western idea is that suffering is something you should get over… or fix it or find some solution for it… But here’s the crux: Now and then, there’s a problem that has no solution.’

At the very highest level, perhaps humanity’s greatest lesson learned from COVID will be in the form of humility and acceptance. As it turns out, we don’t have the control we think we do. There’s an arrogance we have developed, one I believe Boss is referring too, that our incredible advances in technology and science can be relied upon and will always develop quick enough to save us. Perhaps this lesson, if we actually learn it, embrace it, and let go of our egos long enough to accept it, will be the ultimate preparation for the impact of climate change. We will hopefully gain some control in the future over COVID, but who knows if technology and science is up to the task of controlling the future of our planet.

COVID has proven to be a rare global ‘change’ event. We now enter the ‘transition’ process, a messy period of time where how we live and move in the world moving forward will not be driven by an external timeline but by an internal process of re-alignment, re-orientation, and re-engagement. Ramble Five asked you to be the authors of the final Ramble, asking you to pose one question to fellow ramblers as we go our separate ways. Your thoughtful questions have the potential to considerably aid us in this transition process.

Erika - How has your relationship or feeling towards Ambiguity changed after living with so much for this period of time?

Jennie - What is one new practice you might try in this period of ambiguous loss?

Amanda - Hindsight as we know is a wonderful thing, but hypothetically if you’d known in advance what was going to happen (Covid & impact) would you have lived the last 18 months differently or do you think you’re happy with the choices you made within the confines of societal restrictions?

Su - What advice or thoughts would you share with your pre-COVID self to prepare them for their COVID experience? Answer as if you were NOT able to tell them specifically about COVID.

Kathy - What can you take forward from these discussions that you feel has had the most transformative impact on your forward thinking?

Charlotte – What have you learned about the way you cope during difficult times? What mechanisms have you developed over the last can you rely upon in the future?

David – In five years’ time - how will you finish this statement, “If it hadn’t had been for COVID, I would never have….”

Maria – How has COVID informed, shifted, or redefined your understanding of ‘belonging’ and ‘community’?

Lisa - What is giving you hope and/or courage to continue moving forward through uncertainty as the COVID impact (along with other crises affecting the world) continues?

Matt – What do you know about yourself that you didn’t know before COVID? How can you use that knowledge to lead a more fulfilling life?

I appreciate Lisa bringing ‘hope’ to the table. There are days when I struggle to feel hopeful, and as I re-read this final Ramble, I realize that today is one of them. When I dig deep, I am hopeful that as I emerge, I am taking a small step closer to realizing life’s very hardest lesson - life happens in the now. Isn’t that the only thing that is certain in a time of great uncertainty? Our Buddhist friends have much to teach us here. Therefore, my final question to the group is one posed by Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön - Author of the book ‘Comfortable with Uncertainty’.

What does it take to use the life we already have in order to make us wiser rather than more stuck? The answer to this question seems to have to do with bringing everything that we encounter to the path.

This path has one very distinct characteristic: it is not prefabricated. It doesn’t already exist. The path that we’re talking about is the moment-by-moment evolution of our experience, the moment-by-moment evolution of the world of phenomena, the moment-by-moment evolution of our thoughts and emotions. The Path is unchartered. It comes into existence moment-by-moment and at the same time drops away behind us.

When we realize that the path is the goal, there’s a sense of workability. Everything that occurs in our confused mind we can regard as the path. Everything is workable.

Fellow Ramblers, thank you for joining me and each other on this journey. I hope you have found comfort being at each other’s side over the last six months. We are not alone. I am grateful to each and everyone of you, and hope (there’s that word again) we can continue to support each other on life’s evolving path.