Leaping
Yesterday the local news reported the latest COVID-19 infections in the islands. Another 230 people developed the disease, with thirteen more people on Hawaii Island, where I live. Another person died – forty-five since this began. Expectations keep shifting – officials opened schools and closed parks and beaches again. Like others, I feel dismayed since the state set an example by first reducing the spread in April and May.
The situation leaves me feeling stuck, like in a chasm. Hiking across lava rock landscapes, I have been surprised by sudden deep fissures and backed away. We are experiencing collective fissures now – the interruption of stability and a divergence of opinions. My world is smaller. I long to rejoin friends for something simple – hugs and maybe dinner and a movie. I especially yearn for the feeling of expectancy. When can I feel hopeful again? Right now, we are called to balance personal concerns, social responsibility, and faith.
We are writing our stories, even in this uncertain time. The unknowns are many. When will this end? What is the cure? When can we safely visit family again? Life often includes uncertainty; I prefer habits and routines.
So, I elect to act with social responsibility. Effective public health requires us all to assist in averting disease, extending life, and fostering health. When we seek to assist with the health of our neighbors, we are all better off – especially with a contagious virus! So, I choose to wear a mask and keep my physical distance from others – a compassion/caution combo.
I also choose to practice faith. The usual meaning of faith is certainty in someone or something, a trust not based on proof. The idea is found in Hebrews 11.1: “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.”
A favorite quote about faith comes from Carter Heyward, one of the first female priests in the Episcopal Church and a theologian. She clarifies, “Faith is a process of leaping into the abyss not on the basis of any certainty about where we shall land, but rather on the belief that we shall land.” I did not feel hopeful the first time I read the quote. Leap into the abyss? Yet I know life brings us unfathomable moments – like an unpredictable disease challenging humanity. Hayward implies that in leaping we are being transformed.
I want to leap in consciousness. I practice faith. I choose to look directly at my fear and occasional despair. I know that my questions and doubts are normal and healthy. Despite evidence to the contrary, I think that I live in a Universe of possibility. I practice perceiving the realm of God, the domain of divine ideas. I commit to manifesting a new reality.
Leap with me.
~ Eric Page
August 22, 2020
Honokaa, Hawai’i