DISEASE
CORONA LEXICA: Words as Metaphor and Fleshed Reality A play of words with the Real Velleda C. CECCOLI* I am paying attention to the way that language germinates with experience, mine and yours. Our experience in this moment of collective vulnerability
CONTAGION: as in communicating disease from body to body by direct or indirect contact. (Like now. . .wash your hands. . .careful what you touch. . .and where you put your hands. . .the trace of humanity having a long trail or is it tail?) And then I arrive at
I am paying attention to the way that the symbolic mediation of our signifying system stretches language in an attempt to parallel and perhaps, capture for a moment inner experience fusing it with outer I am paying attention to the fragility of the membrane that separates the internal from the external Symbolic and Imaginary play coming into the Reality of the Thing At play no longer and instead gnawing away at the boundary between psyche and soma I am paying attention, now, to specific words and the way they impact us, given Our current condition, given Our world today this minute, this day, this week and the next
VULNERABILITY: From the Latin –vulnerabilis–, able to be wounded, either physically or emotionally, liable to damage or harm, especially from aggression or attack. And thus my use of the word collective as an adjective, as in we are, all, together vulnerable—which brings me to our FRAGILITY: From the Latin –fragilis–, meaning breakable, weak, perishable, and/or easily destroyed. Yes, we do not like to think of ourselves in this way and yet, we are, we are, we are. And the fact of our current state, both internal and external, leads all of us into a state of UNCERTAINTY: The quality or state of not being certain; doubtfulness, hesitancy, irresolution. A thing of which the resolution, outcome, etc. cannot be determined. Are we not in the business of uncertainty? And yet, and yet, we know not of this collective incarnated uncertainty. The question now is: How to establish IMMUNITY: From the Latin –immunitas–, as in the freedom or protection from anything injurious; lack of susceptibility. Is this not what our defenses, our fantasy, our internal life should grant? And if we cannot establish a physical exemption from this Thing then how are we to continue to feel our RESILIENCE: As in the act of rebounding or springing back; elasticity; the ability to recover readily from, or resist being affected by, a setback, an illness, etc. How do you know we can survive this? Does this require a certain amount of welcomed AMNESIA? From the Greek –amnesia–, forgetfulness; loss of memory. Afraid? Why? There will be vaccines, antibodies. …Or is it instead, an insidiously established HABITUATION: As in the formation of a damaging dependency; an innate response to a frequently repeated stimulus. I am fine, at home and isolating. Or better yet, a steady and ongoing need for
I am paying attention to the way that some words feel hard, concrete, solid, cement-like while others mutate and fluctuate with emotion as Our experience re-defines them…
DISSOCIATION: The breaking up of a substance into elemental particles; the breaking up of an association or idea, and finally, a condition in which mental processes are separated from the conscious personality—usually as a result of trauma, a situation in which one can go on and on despite external events that are monstrous like NOW, and what is trauma if not a direct attack on our most elemental sense of
CULPRIT (now there’s a word!): guilty party; offender; wrongdoer; perpetrator; criminal; malefactor. The beginning of this new world. … VIRUS: A substance produced in the body as the result of a disease; one capable after inoculation of infecting other people or animals with the same disease. A submicroscopic organism that can multiply only inside living host cells, has a non-cellular structure lacking any intrinsic metabolism and comprising a single DNA/RNA molecule inside a protein coat, and frequently pathogenic. And then there is its corollary: VIRALITY: rapidly spread by means of people communicating to each other; addressing both the internal nature of the virus and its propensity to live in our environs as well. To spin off and multiply, to attack, not only humans and other animals, but information, computers, technology, bank accounts, the economy. . . These two words lead me to 23
SAFETY: The state of being protected from hurt or injury; freedom from danger; close custody or confinement as a means of protection. As long as I stay home… And SECURITY: The condition of being protected from or not exposed to danger. Freedom from anxiety or apprehension; …it will all be ok, so that a sense of RELIEF: The alleviation or deliverance from pain; can once again be part of our days and relieve the TRAUMA: The psychic injury caused by emotional shock…of the world’s grief and loss, so that
DIVISION | R E V I E W
SUMMER 2020
