CRITICA

Dear PINC Community,

It is impossible to know what the state of things will be by the time you read this, as it is now early November, a month after the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel. At the moment the world is a frightening place: events in Israel and Palestine are creating tremendous pain and conflicts for everyone, and it is hard to have faith in a peaceful and just solution. It’s a lot for us all to carry, and, of course, we carry the pain of our patients along with our own.

Many of us have been thinking for some time about how we at PINC might reclaim our sense of community. This is a particularly important question in this moment amid the intense feelings of alienation some of us have with each other around world events. How can we listen to each other and hear each other’s pain and fear?

In the face of this, we carry on with teaching and learning, with preparing for our facility move in November, and all of the other behind the scenes work that keeps PINC running. As I’ve written in numerous letters over the past year, we are at in a period of transition, facing the retirement and stepping back of many in our most senior generation who have kept PINC thriving since its inception. At the same time, we are looking to the future as we put forward a vision and a plan to make the training we offer more equitable, accessible, and affordable. And as some things are progressing while others are ending, we are tasked with finding a reinvigoration of our communal experience, as well as people to help with our future Development. Some of the disconnection that began during COVID has left us more vulnerable to disruption and with an uncertain path to repairing relationships. I urge everyone to be kind – to yourself and to others, at this time. At PINC, we have a lot to celebrate, as we continue to attract excited and diverse candidates, to revise and modernize our curriculum and policies, and to work together to bring a better psychoanalysis into the future.

Perhaps words from Leonard Cohen can help:

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in
Let’s work together to find the light in the cracks that have opened.
My best to you all, with hope for a peaceful world.

Kali Hess, President