Awakening the Healing Self in a Time of Inflammation and Numbing
An Evening with Tim Lyons: December 3, 2021
“It is not famine, not earthquakes, not microbes, not cancer, but man himself who is man’s greatest danger to man, for the simple reason there is no adequate protection from psychic epidemics, which are infinitely more devastating than the worst of natural catastrophes.” The Symbolic Life. C.G. Jung.
An unfortunate trend during the pandemic is that many people are slipping into self-destructive inflammatory behaviors and numbing, even as the planet, the extension of our being, is heating up. These familiar dynamics of stress and trauma grow out of prolonged exposure to the collective contagions of fear and confusion. This dynamic has brought to a boil psychic and biological maladies that were incubated or problematic before the pandemic. The development of compensatory addictions to numb the pain, especially in the areas of comfort foods, the internet, substance abuse, workaholism, profit, etc., evoke a flush of need, shame and greed. This escalation corresponds to our “addictions” to hypervigilance, anxiety, and depression. Understanding the archetypal patterns of addiction – chaos, shame, self-destruction and rebirth, with their roots at a deep cellular level – is key to awakening the healing Self. Both inner and outer integrative work to diffuse fear is necessary in order to reclaim life force for rebirth.
There is no blame for this existential human predicament, but seeking blame, projecting onto outer enemies, and self-attack are part of the archetypal process that imprisons us. The damage is evident in the very young, even the unborn, and the aging. Children as young as seven are being medicated with antianxiety and antidepressant drugs in unprecedented numbers. Food addictions affect people of all weight categories, but the fact that 80% of Covid victims hospitalized are overweight, may push us to understand the roots of the epidemic of obesity. Among the elderly, the spiraling rise in metabolic diseases has led to increased prescriptions to compensate and numb the symptoms. Unfortunately, these drugs do little for the underlying causes.
Will we be like the proverbial frog in the slowly heating water who does not sense the increasing danger of boiling to death? In actual experiments the frogs do jump out, but for many of us humans we have become numb. Advancements in the science of vaccines and a growing interest in preventative medicine are starting to meet these escalating challenges. How might we personally awaken and turn down the heat on our inflamed pain body? Perhaps, we can bring mother earth, our ultimate source of nourishment, along with us on our quest to heal ourselves.
Timothy Lyons 