A Virus is Not Just a Virus:  Part II - Organism Symbiosis

A typical virus microbe is an organism.  It fights to remain active.  If its progress is halted or function threatened, it will "evolve" via a process called mutation.  Its structure will shift to allow it a fresh entry and to resist the methods used to halt its reproduction (e.g. a vaccine).  When its function runs its course, many viruses become dormant in some form and can re-emerge at a much later time as another kind of illness.   This is a complex metamorphosis and not one that I have studied in enough detail to develop in a blog.  I do know my limitations.  

I have chatted with two virologists over the years in order to better understand how viruses function in general.  Being a Priest who was charged with the well-being of a community of people, I have always made every effort to be informed and equipped to deal with public health issues that would affect that well-being.   Remembering that my center-field discipline is theology and the spiritual journey of the faith community, most of my time and energy has been applied to the ongoing study and development of those specific skill sets of vocation.  

In the mid-1980s I recognized that human behavior and integrated dialogue with a diversity of behavioral patterns in a community were not simply a matter of the application of theological scholarship.  I also needed to embrace skills and resources that could meet behavioral challenges and the varieties of neuroses that created and sustained those behavior patterns.  I began doctoral level studies in the discipline of "Pastoral Theology"... the integration of psychology with the disciplines of applied theology and spiritual direction. I completed all the course work and initial written requirements for a doctoral degree but did not complete the dissertation phase due to our mother's death,  the birth of a child and the details that followed both.  I got overwhelmed and dropped the academic work to stay focused on parochial responsibilities.  

In 1988, I attended a one-day seminar with Dr. Edwin Friedman...a Jewish Rabbi who had studied under Dr. Murray Bowen at Georgetown University and was a licensed practitioner in Family Systems Theory and Family Emotional Process.  That seminar opened me to an entirely new set of possibilities.  My BA in psychology focused on the work of Dr. Abraham Maslow.  I studied under Dr. Sidney Jourard at the University of Florida.  I had done post-grad work with two Episcopal Priests who had studied at the Jungian Institute in Zurich, Switzerland.  I thought I had all I needed.   Far from the truth!

In summary, I studied under Rabbi Friedman from 1988 until his untimely death in 1996.  He had a special "Three Times/Year" program for clergy to learn Bowen Theory and develop practical application models for family process in Church and Synagogue.   There were a number of Episcopal Priests in the two groups of 25 that met at Ed's office for five days each session (his office was a converted house in a near downtown Bethesda, MD neighborhood).   I count these years, that group, and Dr. Friedman as a deep blessing for giving me truly rich tools for parochial leadership and leadership development within the faith community.  

Symbiosis::  The living together of two dissimilar organisms in more or less intimate association or close union.  This interactive behavior is beneficial to both (or all) in said relationship(s).

Because we humans have been gifted with the capacity to discern and make choices within a complex framework, no two of us have identical life experiences and families of origin that modeled the manner in which we make choices or see the world around us.  Part of our matrix of creation has gifted us with the capacity to choose from a number of options confronting us.  We model our parenting, education, and peer associations in applying methods for making choices.  However, not all conditioning is good for us.

 Michelangelo:  The Imparting of the Imago Dei to the Primal Human creation.  Sistine Chapel

The creations stories of Genesis speak of the moment in which the Holy One sees humankind as prepared to receive the Grace of "Imago" and, thus bestowed within this creature the capacity to reflect  the Mind of God and see clearly that desire and direction for which we were created.  The development of "Mind of Mankind" included the divine capacity to choose.  Our ego structure got in the way and, Bazinga, we have what has traditionally been called "Original Sin"....making choices that are contrary to Divine Initiative and Direction.  

Primal Symbiosis is interactive behavior with the Holy One.  I am leaving out a lot of complex and oft confusing theological terminology and concepts of "ensoulmnent."  Suffice it to say that my term, "Primal Symbiosis" is the relationship we have with God as both a gift and an expectation of reflected Grace (Divine Love).   Over time, we humans have been more like step-down transformers....replacing the primal gift with our own concepts regarding relationship, love, and acceptance.  Inter-personal relationships (attempted symbiosis) become more like contracts with expectations for a prescribed set of behaviors and levels of power.   We are not born with original sin, but we catch on to it at a fairly early age, because we are conditioned to behave at a level of being far below that of the Primal Gift of Life.

So, enough of ground level theologizing and psychologizing (I combined both above).  

Truth is, I think about these things a lot, when I am not engaging in the stuff of everyday life and routine.  On a "socio-biological" level, what we have become....I fear....is something of a virus within the context of created order.  "We have not done those things which we were designed to do; and we have done those things which have disrupted or broken what had been given us to steward (caretaker of creation)."  I put this in quotes because it is a highly edited part of the General Confession of the Book of Common Prayer (1928):  "We have done those things which we ought not to have done; and we have not done those which we ought to have done; and there is no health in us..."  For this essay, I like my version a little better.  It is more the expression of the journey rather than an indictment of the moment.  

When is a virus not just a virus?  When the virus morphs into a conscious, cognitive life form:  A human being that has lost touch with his/her soul...the True Self.

Be well and be safe, my friends!

Fred+

 A Virus is Not Just a Virus, Part I:  The Real Deal

My personal journey through life has had the good fortune of including parents who were wise about caring for their two sons.  Both were WW II veterans.  Dad was in the Army and fought in the Pacific under the command of Gen. Douglas MacArthur.  Mom was a Registered Nurse and was an Army surgical nurse stationed at the military hospital in Memphis, TN.  They specialized in trauma surgery for soldiers who had damaged or lost limbs from both theaters of war.  Mom and Dad met by happenstance in Winter Haven...after Dad was discharged and Mom was on leave.  Ultimately, Mom resigned her commission (as a Lieutenant), and they were married in 1947.  I came along in 1950, and my brother in 1954.  

The war cited above created the need for rapid medical advances.  Penicillin and other antibiotics were created to stop the rampant spread of pneumonia and bacterial infections that ravaged the troops on the battlefields.   At the same time, research produced the first vaccine to successfully prevent polio and then vaccines for a host of insidious viral infections.  Oddly enough, history had favored the treatment of smallpox much earlier.  

My brother and I grew up in a period where parents were concerned for the wellness of their children.  The post WW II baby boom produced a huge influx of children that created the need for larger schools and a number of new social activities that brought folks together in ways not experienced in our culture.  Advances in technology brought folks closer together...moving the United States into a more complex urban environment.   My graduating class at Winter Haven High School (Winter Haven, Florida) in 1968 numbered 483 students.   Winter Haven was not considered a large city, so one can imagine what the influx of the Boomer generation was like on a grander scale.

By the time I graduated from high school, I had been inoculated for all the major diseases then active in our culture:  smallpox, polio, typhoid, tetanus, diphtheria, and probably some I have long forgotten.  There was no question that we would get our annual physical and the appropriate levels of vaccinations. In fact, it was required in order to be registered in our schools.   Our parents were diligent in preparing us for future adulthood.

Anti-vaxer was an unheard term in our generation.  In our city, we knew of only one family who refused to get their first child vaccinated for polio.  He contracted polio at a very young age and nearly died.  He was born the same year as I was.  He was confined to a wheelchair.  Over the long haul (and a long story), he died shortly after graduating from college.

When I entered the U.S. Navy in the summer of 1972 (after graduating from college...another long story),  our training company went through three separate vaccination series to prepare us for future assignments.  At that time the main destination for most military branches was Viet Nam.  We were vaccinated to prepare for that potentiality.  

Viruses are strange.  Once one is successfully healed from chickenpox that  virus can still remain dormant in the human body for the balance of one's life.  Dormant chickenpox virus can reappear in later adult years as shingles.   Yes, after my retirement in 2011, my primary care physician advised me to have a Shingrix series of that vaccine.  Having seen shingles in several of my parishioners, I was very quick to agree.   

A virus is an infectious agent that can only replicate within a host organism. Viruses can infect a variety of living organisms, including bacteria, plants, and animals. Viruses are non-living organisms that do not have anything like a brain, they have the incredible capacity to seek survival.  Most viruses replicate on a set regularity, once they infect a host.  The faster they replicate the more contagious they are.  In most cases, should the potential host gain a resistance to said virus, it will shift its nucleic acid make-up with a resulting variant that can often be even more lethal in its infectious capacity.   While bacteria (a living organism) can be neutralized with an antibiotic, a virus has to be almost literally "blown apart" by a weaponized vaccine.   We can thank Edward Jenner, who developed a treatment for smallpox (1796); and thank Max Theiler, who developed the first vaccine to treat yellow fever in the 1930s.   The advances in medicine and treatment for diseases has been helped by tremendous advances in microbiology and disease research.  

I was raised in an era that truly respected to work of the scientific community.   While I had a wonderful liberal arts education, my focus was the scientific disciplines...most especially biological science.  I was invested in the study of medicine, when my vocation rather suddenly shifted (another long story).  Yet, i I remain conversant with what is happening in scientific research and the medical arts.  I understand and support the efficacy of research that is ongoing and producing better treatments for all sorts and conditions of human illness.   My wife and I raised our two daughters to be competent in caring for their health and, now the health of their children.  

I do not spend any time at all arguing with anti-vax folks.  While I generally abhor the casting of judgment on others, I cannot help but wonder how their education is so truncated as to not grasp the knowledge and capacity science has provided for the treatment of illness and disease.   I will not judge, but I will continue to speak what I have experienced and continue to learn.

Yes, I do indeed find that theology and science are quite compatible.   I am, at the heart of it, both a theologian and a scientist...and a psychologist within that scientific community.

Be well and be safe, my friends!

Fred+