Care or Cure, Episode 455
When we're in difficulty, or people who matter to us are in difficulty, we often rush to find out how to make the problem go away.
That's just fine for some issues we face... for example just before recording today's episode we had to fix an audio issue which would have prevented us getting this episode out. But many other kinds of difficulties are not so amenable to such an approach and, in any case, trying the 'fix' them might mean having to exile part of ourselves, or treat something that is deep and poetic as if it were shallow and trivial. So instead of trying to 'cure' an issue we face, Thomas Moore's source this weeks invites us into an ethic of 'care', in which we "might take the time to watch and listen as gradually it reveals the deeper mysteries lying within daily turmoil. Problems and obstacles offer a chance for reflection that otherwise would be precluded by the swift routine of life."
Hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.
Our source for this week:
Care vs Cure
A major difference between care and cure is that cure implies the end of trouble. If you are cured, you don’t have to worry about whatever was bothering you any longer. But care has a sense of ongoing attention. There is no end. Conflicts may never be fully resolved. Your character will never change radically, although it may go through some interesting transformations. Awareness can change, of course, but problems may persist and never go away.
Our work in psychology would change remarkably if we thought about it as ongoing care rather than as the quest for a cure. We might take the time to watch and listen as gradually it reveals the deeper mysteries lying within daily turmoil. Problems and obstacles offer a chance for reflection that otherwise would be precluded by the swift routine of life. As we stop to consider what is happening to us and what we're made of, the soul ferments, to use an alchemical word. Change takes place, but not according to plan or as the result of intentional intervention. If you attend the soul closely enough, with an educated and steadfast imagination, changes take place without your being aware of them until they are all over and well in place. Care of the soul observes the paradox whereby a muscled, strong-willed pursuit of change can actually stand in the way of substantive transformation.
Thomas Moore
from Care of the Soul
Photo by Lucas George Wendt on Unsplash