This strange time has been, well, strange.
Many of us miss our rituals, miss our people, heck we miss hugs. We miss things as they were. It’s difficult to hold that this new normal may be a while when our heads are still spinning about what has changed. What we thought would be a few weeks has turned into months. Some aspects of life are returning to some level of before, but many of us probably have trepidation of exactly what the rules are or how we should be! When I have been around people, seeing neighbors on walks for example, my inclination is to draw near, but my body seems to have already learned how to orbit around one another at six feet apart. It’s strange to find myself in this dance. So much is still unknown.
Part of me wants to return to normal, but I think what was normal is categorically in the “no longer” camp! There is much that needed to change, that needed our attention in order to usher in the “not yet.” The in between is exposing a lot of anxieties and inequities. Certain populations (undocumented immigrants, those who are poor, who don’t have access to health care) are quite vulnerable. I hope we will attend to some of those gaps in meaningful, transformative ways. The in between is also producing a ton of creativity. Imagine what can happen when we approach problems with that same creativity coupled with plenty of time to contemplate.
Creativity and love are the alchemical components of the in between. In Plato’s Symposium, a long dialogue about the meaning of Eros, the wise oracle Diotima proclaimed that love is in the metaxus, in the in between. Truth is we are always in between. Wherever we are — and we are most definitely very aware of being there right now — it means we have an opportunity to be IN love. We are held there. The in between doesn’t promise to be easy or even particularly gentle, but I do believe it presents us an opportunity to wake up to what is.
I love our Ordinary Life community. It has always held us in the between, and it has always challenged us there, too. As we’ve grown, we’ve been attune to many not yet moments, which now reside in the no longer! The cycle goes on. I hope no matter where you are or how you are spending your time that you are finding time to pause, to appreciate or grieve or simply notice exactly what is.