ABSTRACT
Introduces this special issue on COVID-19. The author reviews the history of the Spanish Flu, and discusses his experiences of the pandemic while residing in China. He compares the freedom and liberty espoused in the US, demonstrated by the choice of some not to wear masks and practice social distancing, to the more "obedient" approach in the collectivist culture of China. That obedience is not just a form of subservience but also demonstrates acts of care and respect for one's neighbors. The special issue is the authors' way of opening windows and shouting out to the world what they have to offer in terms of encouragement and care in the midst of suffering. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic is a powerful border experience awakening us to our existential predicament. Such a predicament includes transience and impermanence, unpredictability, emptiness (existential vacuum), and the interdependence of life and death. The anxiety aroused by the pandemic can awaken us to an ontological mode of existence in which we are authentic, aware, responsible, and transcendent. The Chinese idiom reminds us that crises contain both danger and opportunity. Thus, this article explores how out of this awareness can emerge resilience, creativity, and meaning-making in the midst of confinement, isolation, and suffering.