As a child growing up in a fundamentalist family and community, I was taught that as a Christian I should be “in the world but not of the world.” Dr Jachim's essay reminds me of that charge. I believe, with him, that as an analyst, I must be in the world. And in fact, we all are. In these days of COVID-19 and heightened awareness of racial inequality, we are all collectively suffering trauma. We are no different from our patients in some of the realities we face daily. Again, quoting my mother, “Judy, it is not only what happens to you, it is how you respond.” No two of us are responding to our society and our culture and the challenges of 2020 in the same way. Also, no matter the facts of the collective trauma of COVID-19 and the reality of racial injustice, we are not in this together. Ultimately, we are alone with ourselves.

Since as analysts we are alone with ourselves, what we know and do not know are both important. We must learn a lot in order to ride a bicycle. But when we are riding, we need to forget the details of what we learned and ride paying attention to the path and its surroundings. We need to be in the world in order to understand ourselves and others. We cannot forget the psychic reality of the unconscious world nor should we minimize the reality of the actual world. Using Bion's model of binocular vision, I believe each is always informing the other.

Our impossible profession requires much of us. I am grateful to Dr. Jachim for the reminder of just how much we need to acknowledge about both the real and the imaginary.