Just a quick note while I'm working on the post about the ocean and the unconscious mind. A judge has ordered the hospital in Texas to take the body of Marlise Munoz (the brain-dead pregnant woman) off “life support” but has also given the hospital until 5pm Monday to comply with or contest the decision. The hospital is considering an appeal.
What struck me most in the New York Times article about this situation1 is this information, which to my knowledge had not been previously released:
“Lawyers for Ms. Muñoz’s husband, Erick Muñoz, said they were provided with medical records that showed the fetus was 'distinctly abnormal' and suffered from hydrocephalus — an accumulation of fluid in the cavities of the brain — as well as a possible heart problem.
The hospital acknowledged in court documents that the fetus was not viable.”
So, the mother is brain-dead, the fetus is severely disabled and “not viable” (not able to live outside its mother's womb) and yet the hospital persists in totally ignoring the actual situations of these two people and also the ongoing sufferings of the families of the two. Surely an abstract law should be held as more important than the physical and emotional well-being of all these people, right?
If this isn't the failure of metaphorical thinking in spades, I don't know what is—allowing an abstract concept to override compassion, concern for real living beings. How is this different from what we normally think of as evil?
PS--I'm a bit nervous about using the term "evil" and want to clarify what I mean. I do not believe in "cosmic evil," but in how merriam-webster.com defines the term, using such descriptions as "causing harm . . . sorrow, distress, . . . suffering . . . discomfort or repulsion . . . morally reprehensible." The families of Marlise Munoz have certainly been caused harm, including sorrow, distress, suffering--a lot more than discomfort. I and other onlookers have certainly felt repulsion. The actions of the hospital are "morally reprehensible" in that way.
I wish that we as a society could see that certain decisions can add up to wrong action, without the individual decisions being able to foresee those wrong actions. But metaphorical thinking--giving equal weight or hopefully even precedence to the real over the abstract--should help us to see this when it occurs.
1http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/25/us/judge-orders-hospital-to-remove-life-support-from-pregnant-woman.html?emc=eta1
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