Creating a Community of Healers

Image by Daniel Kirsch from Pixabay

Taking on the role of healer is difficult for me because I have most often seen myself as an agitator for justice.
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“My whole soul is in it” said President Biden as he reminded us of the many challenges facing our country and the need to come together – as one nation – to address them.  In a country so bitterly divided, it is hard to envision how we become again a nation united.  But united we must be to address a combination of issues more dire than those faced by any of our forbearers.

• A global pandemic that will likely take the lives of 500,000 Americans before Spring, but still without a consensus on the little things like wearing a mask to mitigate the consequences.
• An economic collapse with millions unemployed and hundreds of thousands of businesses closed, while we argue about how to reopen the economy.
• Addressing the looming existential threat of climate change and the possibility that it may soon be too late to reverse course.  And still, there are many who don’t believe that mankind has caused the problem and that we must make difficult economic choices in order to solve the problem.

• Through the millions who protested over the summer, we were forced to confront the need for racial equity in our society – knowing that at the same time, there is an expanding white supremist backlash growing amongst us.

A divided country has little hope of successfully dealing with the concurrent challenges of massive deaths, economic deprivation, systemic racism, environmental disaster and internal, violent threats to our democracy.

And so, we must find a way to heal.

I never saw myself as a healer, but yet the thought of becoming a healer came to me as I sat in expectant silence during a recent Quaker Meeting for Worship.  We had just suffered through the January 6th insurrection at our nation’s Capitol and several of my fellow Quakers spoke about how they were affected by the attack on our democracy.
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In the Quaker tradition, we don’t have pastors.  The expectation is that each of us is called upon to minister to the rest of our community and to the world.  So, as I sat in silence and listened to my Friends speak of their despair, I was wondering what I could do to help heal their pain.  And the thought that bubbled up from somewhere deep within me was that I need to become a healer.

Since that time I’ve been sitting with this idea of the act of healing and wondering just what it means for me on a practical level.  Taking on the role of healer is difficult for me because I have most often seen myself as an agitator for justice.  My inclination is more to stir up feelings of anger in order to organize people to seek collective action for change than it is to heal the pain in order to build community. 

To be honest, the idea of becoming a healer didn’t really sit well with me.  It didn’t feel authentic and if it didn’t feel authentic to me, I’m pretty sure any actions I took in this regard would seem disingenuous to those who know me.  I felt that I would be putting on an act.

Thankfully, as I wrestled with the idea of healing, one of my daily meditation readings quoted St. Augustine of the Catholic Church stating “Love (God) and do what you will.”  It was most helpful to dig deeper and find the context of this quote, which follows:

Once for all, then, a short precept is given thee: Love, and do what thou wilt: whether thou hold thy peace, through love hold thy peace; whether thou cry out, through love cry out; whether thou correct, through love correct; whether thou spare, through love do thou spare: let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good  (Writings of Augustine -Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John. Tract 7:8)

The basic concept then is that love must become the root of all actions.  So, in order to heal our society, we must first dig deeply into understanding ourselves and what motivates our actions.  If we are motivated out of love, then we can confront dishonesty and hypocrisy in a way that informs but does not diminish the other.  If we are motivated out of love, then we can organize for policies that sustain our environment, but in a way that doesn’t demonize those opposed.  If we are motivated out of love, then we can confront white supremacy but with a focus on supporting historically oppressed people and communities.

I’ll give you a real life example.  I grew up in western Pennsylvania, which has become a core area of support for Donald Trump.  Through social media, I remain connected to some of my friends from back there.  We are as far apart as people can possibly be when it comes to politics and we spar back and forth on social media about our differences.  During one encounter, a liberal friend of mine posted on my account that I should “cut those guys loose…leave them in the cornfield.” 

​It was a tempting thought to just block these friends and eliminate their commentary from my media feed.  Instead, I posted the following statement:  While I completely disagree with them politically, these fellows are my friends.  We grew up together.  We had many an adventure together.  We may argue and disagree, but they are like brothers to me.
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Since that post, the tone of these social media debates has changed.  We still disagree, but the vitriol is gone from all sides.  I let love lead, from which good sprang forth.  Hopefully, I can continue to do so as a way to heal those I encounter. If we all do that – create a community of loving healers – perhaps America still has a chance.