Mary Anne Costerella

If METAPHYSICAL (BEYOND the PHYSICAL plane) is applied to the current ‘hovering’ reality of the CORONAVIRUS, I ask what then is the ‘META’, the ‘BEYOND’ meaning of the COVID-19 on this EARTH?

What is the reason BEYOND the PHYSICAL, the SCIENCE, the MEDICINE for its existence?

Is the SPIRITUAL REALM challenging HUMAN CULTURE to see BEYOND the SCIENCE and the MEDICINAL RITUALS of this virus?

To go DEEPER when we’re not as ‘free’ to go WIDE?

As a licensed integrative and addictions psychotherapist, I am asking US to step ‘outside of the proverbial box’ of hand sanitizers, toilet paper, vaccines, quarantines, closures, cancellations and FEAR to introspectively ‘walk’ with me on an unchartered course (LIFE) requiring rigorous honesty, self-inventory, and a MACROCOSMIC as opposed to a MICROCOSMIC perspective.

Ironically a CHINESE proverb quotes: CRISIS is defined as OPPORTUNITY disguised as LOSS.

What LOSS does this CRISIS present to our culture and what is the potential OPPORTUNITY gained from that LOSS?

Are the SCIENTISTS informing US there is NO ‘cure’, NO medicine, NO vaccine, NO amount of cleanliness (AKA PERFECTIONISM) that will DESTROY this virus because WE are truly POWERLESS over LIFE and DEATH?

Does the virus reside in the LUNGS, the organs of BREATH (AKA LIFE) BECAUSE ‘they’ are the HOME for each individual LIFE?

Do we become ‘SHORT OF BREATH’ because WE have been KILLING our lives with an addictive mindset to ALL that is NOT LIFE-SUSTAINING–WORKAHOLISM, TECHNOLOGICAL DEVICES, POSSESSIONS (STUFF), DISTRACTIONS AD INFINITUM, to the extinctual EXCLUSION of meaningful and HEARTFELT relationships with the ‘people placed’ in our PATH?

Have we been ‘RETURNED HOME’ for that REASON (as well as the virus)? Resorting to our OWN ‘devices’ (so to speak), an UNLIKELY ‘CHOICE’ for MOST.

Is the BIOLOGICAL VIRUS affording us the OPPORTUNITY to SANITIZE ourselves from the ‘inside out’ PRIOR to ‘resuming’ LIFE as we KNEW it??

David Brooks (NY TIMES columnist) wrote in his recent publication, THE ROAD TO CHARACTER, a social and observational commentary about the thematic comparison between the RESUME profile vs. the EULOGY profile.

What is the proportionate significance we allot to each ‘output’?

Where have WE been ‘STOCKPILING’ our ENERGY?

What are we ‘DOING’ with our LIVES? “not the QUANTITY (how LONG will they be)? but the QUALITY (how MEANINGFUL will they be)?”

Is the virus a ‘WAKE-UP-CALL’ for US to place the ANIMATE BEFORE THE INANIMATE?

Who that we LOVE (self included) can we love BETTER, DEEPER, less SELFISHLY and more UNCONDITIONALLY?

“There is NO U-HAUL on the back of the HEARSE”!

Are we being required to get our HEADS out of our DEVICES and into our OWN and each other’s HEARTS?

The 12 STEP FELLOWSHIPS of AA, NA, etc. refer to this ‘PLACE’ as HITTING ROCK BOTTOM or a DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL–a cathartic opportunity to practice the ART of ‘SURRENDER’ to living in a BODY requiring LOVE-physical, emotional and spiritual sustenance for survival.

The META-PHYSICAL PANDEMIC represents the devaluation of HUMAN LIFE and starkly ‘echoes’ the theme of a book I once read, ‘WHEN SOCIETY BECOMES AN ADDICT’!

Our ‘co-dependent’ RELATIONSHIP with the SCREEN, our metastatic laser-like focus on EXTERNAL ‘nourishment’ in the form of CONSUMERISM, CAPITALISM, PORTFOLIOS, ALCOHOL and OTHER DRUGS, GAMING, PORNOGRAPHY, INFIDELITY, GAMBLING, HUMAN TRAFFICKING–a HUMAN-MADE POTPOURRI of creatively-flavored PAIN-KILLERS) coupled with a progressive APATHY– a lack of FEELING/PATHOS for self and others, a WHATEVER attitude devouring our collective SOUL/SPIRIT.

The media recently informed its TRIBE that SOCIAL DISTANCING is the NEW?? ‘buzzphrase’ marketed as an identifying ALERT to minimize the spread of the COVID-19!

I seriously beg to differ with the recently marketed ‘marriage’ of these two WORDS–WE have been ‘social distancing’ as THEY (euphemistically) prefer to NAME IT since the invention of the SCREEN VIRUS and artificial LIFE through the mechanism of TV, MOVIE, VIDEO, COMPUTER,I PAD, I PHONE, and ALL additional DEVICES (HEADSETS/PHONES) that succeed in creating an intentional ‘SOCIAL DISTANCE’ between the individual and his REAL WORLD.

Our HUMAN BEINGS are diminishing, our internal LIGHTS are (at best) ‘flickering’ in deference to technology and ALL other ‘ISMS’ invented to provide AVOIDANCE of SELF,
FAMILY, COLLEAGUES, SOCIAL SUPPORT and NATURE.

Excessive distractibility is the biological result of BRAIN OVERUSE, STIMULATION and BURNOUT; thus the ‘presentation’ and ‘justification’ of the overused mental health DIAGNOSTIC, ADD/ADHD and OCD; the BRAIN can be ‘likened’ to a photocopier machine spiraling out of CONTROL.

We collectively suffer from ADD and OCD symptomatology (TOILET PAPER) characteristic of ADDICTIVE USE DISORDER.

COVID-19 is NOT only a BIOLOGICAL virus; it is also a SOCIALLY SPIRITUAL virus asking US to CLEAN up our BEHAVIORISMS as thoroughly as we CLEAN our HANDS/COUNTERTOPS, etc.

Surfaces are superficial metaphors for the DEEP CLEAN required to ‘energetically’ deplete this virus; the UNIVERSE always ‘seeks’ a HOLISTIC HEALING.

We are ‘ASKED’ to reorder our priorities demonstrating what we have ALL forgotten–WE have no CONTROL over LIFE and DEATH, not NOW and not BEFORE the virus outbreak…
an extremely discomforting thought for MOST of us.

The FRAGILE and SACRED continuum of LIFE and DEATH is ‘literally’ being PUT in our FACES (‘MASKS’) to INCREASE the VOLUME of our culturally compromised ‘LISTENING’ APP-the HUMAN EAR.

Cultural distractions intentionally ‘interfere’ with the INTUITIVE EAR–as Albert Einstein once stated, “The INTUITIVE MIND is the GIFT, The RATIONAL MIND is the SERVANT; unfortunately, we live in a WORLD where the OPPOSITE is TRUTH”

My intuitive mind is observing ALL DISTRACTIONS have been ‘involuntarily’ REMOVED from our culture’s hungry/anxious/angry PALATE in the same way PEOPLE, PLACES and THINGS are denied the SUBSTANCE ADDICT–ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUGS when they have consciously chosen physical, chemical, emotional and spiritual SOBRIETY following a series of LOSSES rerouting them for a
CLEAN and renewed life abundant with OPPORTUNITIES!

WE are currently experiencing the WITHDRAWAL ‘phase’ of this DUALISTIC DEMON; once the ‘addict’ survives DETOX, the REAL WORK begins.

I am single and began eating at home again as a result of virus restrictions and am grateful for the opportunity to eat my healthy foods of choice instead of frequenting restaurants in a personalized selfie quest to avoid LONELINESS.

What is your DETOX plan?

The LOSS-OPPORTUNITY continuum/CHINESE proverb!

Blaise Pascal (French Philosopher) is quoted: “EVERY PROBLEM IN THE WORLD STEMS FROM MAN’S INABILITY TO SIT QUIETLY IN A ROOM ALONE”!

Rilke: “LET ME NOT SQUANDER THE HOUR OF MY PAIN”!