More about Social Immune Systems

 

"Do you have a mentor?" Pete asked the young delivery man the other day. I Couldn't hear the question clearly, a word here and there; just a murmur. Pete would tell me about the brief conversation later.

"No, I don't."

Pete said something to encourage and commend the high-school entrepreneur who has been shopping and delivering our groceries and mail. The communication between us and the customer service is pretty terrific considering the reasons for this relationship we are developing.

"Thanks," was the boy's answer.

Pete and I had an earlier conversation about this shopping and delivery experience and I wondered whether a coach or mentor was supporting the high-school enterprise. From my isolation it's difficult to have a full view of just what is happening. But. Perhaps in response to the forced 'social distancing' a Native Social Immune System is in the making.

I began thinking about social immune systems a while ago and wrote about it here. When I started this post Pete was cooking jook ( well-cooked rice and millet stirred often in plenty of water plus extras: mushrooms, onions, wakame, grated ginger). Both 'recipes' simmer in me, and the affects ripen with time.

 I hope there is a stream of story worth laying down.

Our bodies have been fed and the ingredients that have, literally, come to us involve neighbors and family in getting the foods we need. Pete takes over the cooking job for awhile; I need his extra help. The way we communicate with each other is grossly tuned (big changes brought by a small virus) but also, finely tuned (a 'small' adjustment to thinking).

Something about remaining strong and resistant (fixed) threatens our independent and self-reliant character when what we always did, can't be done the same way. Afraid of the unknown. After the blame is bantered about, spun into political ball-dropping (pun intended:) I think our mentor and Wise Woman teacher offers me the best approach to using, and allying with 'medicine.' In the first of a series of free video classes, Weed said:

It's not about avoiding getting 'the virus.' It's about keeping your immune system as strong as you can. Weed began with this YouTube about "Healthy Immune System" and Vitamin D from daily doses of sunshine.  So ... "When you get covid-19 you get as mild a case as possible."

The truth of this pandemic is we're all likely to 'get it.'

For more than a decade our lifestyle has included social isolation to greater or lesser degrees. Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, for me and Pete means we avoid and isolate from the regular and unquestionable use of scented products and chemicals by most of the world's population. We built a wagon home to create a movable safe spot to fend off dryer sheets and scents in clothing, hair and body products and on and on. Back in the day -- which is not so long ago -- I wore masks and did so with on-looker's facial language of judging and shun. "Mommy, why is that woman wearing a mask?"

There's something I need to admit, as I write about masks. It's about my own judgment and shunning, and part of the self-forgiveness that now comes in the wake of change and this Upside-down Time. I really did need those masks to keep breathing, but ... but I felt ashamed to be seen with one. So many untended and unhealed memories of oppression pile up if the forgiveness practices aren't part and parcel in the everyday.


Fasten Your Safety Pins started when I received an email comment. He wrote, "Fasten your safety pins" in response to a hope or wish postponed, again. A window opened for me, I saw the magic in taking that line as a way to build a Native (place-based) Social (interactive) Immune (defense) System (entanglement) to grow a future not yet experienced.

It's really about experimentation. Moving the safety pins, those notions, practices and relationships means having to unfasten the pins first. Moving where? Moving them a little, moving them a lot. I'm noticing the puka (small holes) that are left from the moves.

Today, as I lay new tracks to a story, a myth really, about the mystery of immunity, I stop and fiddle with the hard 'something' on my face. A no-no in this time of hand-washing and not touching the face, I fiddle with the 'something' that is drying up. With help from the People's Medicines (Chickweed and St. Joan's Wort Tincture, Burdock Root Tincture, Nourishing Herbal Infusions, Daily doses of Sunshine) my immune system is tending to that growth as if it is a natural outcropping. I think about what water does (over time) to boulders. Slowly, that hard 'something' moves naturally onward.

One of the advantages of being a myth-maker and blogger is the direction my imagination takes me, if I use a light hand. First, I re-read a quote from artist Alan Lee about myth and art. Then, I returned to Medicine Stories written by Aurora Levins Morales to remind me how easily I could consider my oppression so much more important than any other. Astrology is a consistent navigational aid for me, and Satori had something to guide me, so I leave it here.

Terri Windling wrote and published a piece on her blog Myth & Moor, entitled "Middle Earth & Moor: Alan Lee." Both artists (Windling and Lee) are Devon England-based and I have followed Windling's blog for many years. This quote from Alan Lee fits so well as I consider the value of a dangling wart in this Upside-Down Time.

 "The power of both myth and art," he continues, "is this magical ability to open doors and to make connections -- not only between us and the natural world, but between us and the rest of humanity. Myths show us what we have in common with every other human being, no matter what culture we come from, no matter what century we live in. And at the same time, mythic stories and art celebrate our essential differences..."

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"The tunnel vision of considering only our own oppression, and the sense of urgency that brings, can always make solidarity seem unaffordable, inclusion a risk not worth taking. Privilege and its stupidities, " writes Morales, " are what really distract us."- Aurora Levins Morales

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 "...Any concrete action winds its way through a mind first. A mind working on its own pings off the work or input of others, feeds on it. Solicit feedback or information (in person, remote, or from reference) as part of your process. It’s not that they necessarily have something you need, it’s more that the process is a tool to unhook from your own perspective enough to improve on it.

It’s like opening a window in your mind to air out your perceptions, freshen them. The Gemini Venus and Aquarius Mars breeze improves the ability to make best use of what you’ve got. It can even bring zing to something that’s lost flavor..." - Weekend Horoscope, Satori

The writing and blogging here, fastening safety pins for a gentle hold, is so much about making space for forgiveness when that action feels unimaginable. I write these posts as personal (native) immune system practices, as well as sharing a safety pin that might help someone else. I've returned to this post to edit more than once. Life has changed things, a tweak here and there. The making of a myth that celebrates our differences is a jam session as likely as sharing a piano bench with your hero. The other thing I notice when I watch a mentor, like Herbie Hancock? He changes places gracefully and that took decades of practice.


Consider the unimaginable mentors and immunity through an open window. Have you found them? Tell us, or tell someone about it.


RELATED POSTS & LINKS
"About Social Immune Systems, worts and warts"
 "Learning, Laying new Grooves, Riffing"
"Naming in an Upside-down time"
The Second Half of Life: Opening the Eight Gates of Wisdom, Angeles Arrien
Free Video Series: Susun Weed Host Immunity & Co-vid 19