The Canary in the Coal Mine
By Tom M. Saunders, PhD
The "onset" of dysfunction, whether physical, psychological, spiritual, mental, sexual, or social, is usually announced well ahead of time. The family member who announces the dysfunction, like the canary in the coalmine, is often sacrificed, quite unintentionally, by being labeled as the dysfunction rather than addressing the breakdown that has happened in the family system as a whole.
Most coal miners who worked the mines before critical safety measures were in place never realized that they might die prematurely. A few mined coal because they knew that a struggling nation's new industries could not burgeon without coal; most worked because they were thankful just to have a job of any kind.
Most coal miners' concern did not show on their faces when they said goodbye to their families each morning. After all, the canaries lived in the coalmines to protect the miners. When the canaries' song stopped, the signal was as critical as the sirens that sent thousand in search of the nearest bomb shelter in earlier times. The canaries' song had stopped because of the presence of toxic fumes in the mine, and the subsequent lack of oxygen - - a sacrifice or suicide designed to save the lives of others who may not even be mindful of the death, much less thankful.
Each family system has, living within its midst, a token canary - - an early warning device whose voice signals the detection of life-threatening danger. The withdrawn schizophrenic who symbolizes isolation and morning; the bipolar manic whose volatile energy is spent on behalf of all the other quiet family members; and the village 'idiot savant' who knows without any possible rational explanation; all serve the same function as the canary. This 'canary' is the accumulation of an energy mass - - an expression of loss - - that has yet to find a more appropriate outlet within the community at large. Taub-Bynum (1984) in The Family Unconscious thoroughly documents this family energy field as ". . . a matrix of implicit energy vortices through which members signal other members without conscious filtering."
One such family, harboring a schizophrenic within its midst, described (McFarlane, 1994) the loss in this poignant metaphor: 'It was as if we took him to the cemetery, and after proper services, brought the body back home with us. He is still lying in state in the living room.'
The metaphor is a visual graphic of a family still grieving over the "death" of one of its members, still serving as the canary with an unconscious vow of silence. The nature of this loss is only important to the historian who is more focused on the biased chronicle of history than finding a way to not repeat clinicians, consider the following defense.
Functional Dysfunction: A Basic System That 'Works'
Regardless of how dysfunctional a family system may be described by well-meaning therapists, the fact is that until an accumulation of energy within that system reaches a critical mass called 'onset,' that system is a closed loop of "functional dysfunction" that exists on its own momentum which can devour a dozen of the best therapists at one sitting without even a belch. What was never taught during those intensive years of graduate training was that a diagnosis of "dysfunction" is often confessed with projective identification on the part of the therapists who are still at odds with their own family systems (Roth and Cristoffer, 1993).
Alphonse Bertillon (not a therapist by training) once wrote a rather gestalt notion that '. . . one can only see what one observes, and one observes only things which are already in the mind." From Apple Computer, the equation is simplified: WYSIWYG - - What you see is what you get!" - - and keep on getting, and getting, and getting.
Chopra (1993), Rossi (1993), and others write in descriptive detail that cell creation in our bodies follows a similar pattern. The body, for example, creates an entire new skeleton every three months, a new liver every five weeks, and a new stomach lining every week; each year, 98% of our atoms are replaced! Yet a cancerous liver recreates cancerous liver cells, carefully following the 'map' embedded in the membrane wall. While there are no definitive findings of such physical evidence for the repetition of psychosocial behaviors, Taub-Bynum's description of how family members continue to communicate and replicate the same behavioral patterns from one generation to another is readily observable in every family system.
By contrast, a healthy family is one whose members have largely taken responsibility for the nonvolatile expression of their own feelings as near to the moment of experiencing those feelings as possible. Stale feelings, like garbage in our external environment, simply become an onboard toxic waste dump that has a disastrous effect upon the entire physical system, especially the immune system that is struggling to keep us right side up. Healthy expression of feelings is an on-going process of all members, all of the time. When individual members are not willing to express all of their feelings, this excess baggage is unconsciously reassigned to other members who are willing to carry more than their load of a particular feeling. At its worst, a family becomes the "Seven Dwarfs" with members who are named after their lifestyle - - Grumpy, Happy, Dopey, Bashful, Etc., probably necessitating that one in the family also be designated as "Doc."
Onset: The Critical Mass of Accumulation
While a compost pile with its many layers of rotting refuse directly related to age and experience may be good for growing roses, there is a "critical mass of accumulation" within the human organism called "Onset." Onset of what is not especially important. Typical verbalizations accompanying onset are "I just can't take it any longer . . ." or "I'll die trying. . ." (a favorite among caretakers). Onset may be thought of as the physical/emotional/sexual/spiritual/mental/psychosocial kindling temperature at which the smoldering system busts into flames.
Much of the thrust of traditional therapies has encouraged sifting through these layers with the hope that discovery and education would yield prevention. More often, the results have produced an expensive geological map of the layers of compost wth the "geologist" still not having a clue about the territory or how to live in spite of it. Even less surprising is that multiple members of the same family system will be engaged in such individual exploration at the same time, without comparing notes, as they were ashamed to let other family members know that they were in trouble.
Such onset always follows change. A family member, or the system from which they evolved, can creak on with multiple dysfunctions until impacted by change(s) whose intervention can no longer be ignored. The human organism is designed for change much like sidewalks whose "cracks" are formed at the time of construction for natural expansion and contraction to take place without breaking the sidewalk. Such change is healthy and necessary for growth.
However, when too many changes occur to suddenly, onset is the circuit breaker that signals a time out. The onset of what is limited only by our own unconscious being. While few would ever consciously opt to be sick, for example, illness still ranks unconsciously as a national favorite, devouring many more days of our lives than holidays and vacations.
Illness, as framed by the Eastern Band of Cherokees, is a gift that provides a time out to rest, a means of seeking support, love, and attention from others as a point of critical need, and a reaffirmation of the need for a Higher Power (Saunders, 1990). While the illness is often indigenous to family and genetics, the onset is a matter of personal timing, and always follows on the heels of other change(s). Much like lightening is used to burn off the clutter of the forest floor, and fever is used to destroy unnecessary predators in the body, illness provides a time-out to reorganize and reassess - - a kind of visit to Christmas Future with important time to reflect.
Accidents, presumably a category for which there is little personal responsibility, are another type of onset. In addition, accidents typically occur in the midst of profound, out of control change.
So-called positive changes often create more havoc than those that are framed as negative. Severe increases in salary, position, title, or occupational responsibilities bring with them hundreds of smaller changes including a new home (and accompanying new mortgage and interest rate(, different social environments with new friends, and often, a higher car payment. Some couples even plan having children around such upward mobility, believing that upward brings with it, security. Electricians tell us that it is not the voltage of the electricity that kills us but rather the amperage - - the "push" of the electricity coming down the wire. For the same reason, the number of changes that happen in life does not contribute to onset, but rather the amount of stress created in the midst of those changes (Benson, 1975).
Mourning: Necessary Passage
The time-out following onset is accompanied by mourning the loss of what was which allows members of a family system to more fully move on to what is. This hibernation, this winter of feelings, is a necessary passage that provides a time for healing. When ignored, mourning will rear its head in costume as anger, rage, and self-destructive behavior. At the other extreme, when mourning is prolonged, the mourner becomes struck, and struck is often the sister of depression.
When Judith Viorst wrote her excellent manuscript, Necessary Losses (1986), it could have been easily followed by sequels named Necessary Feelings and Necessary Passages. Where mourning is not a learned option, too often true for Western males, an important part of the equation is bypassed, not allowing the soil time to rejuvenate before the next planting. Like the Native Americans who taught the immigrating foreigners to plant a dead fish with their corn seeds, others who live off the land soon learned that soil depletion can drastically affect future harvests. With the mourning experience comes a replenishing of spirit that involves saying "Goodbye" to the past and "Hello" to the future - - the necessary passage of the is. Change is about learning to let go.
Letting Go: Death and Rebirth
Change always involved death and rebirth. Much like creation is not a static, one time event, but an on-going evolution of death and rebirth, change is a constant. Cells die, and new cells take their place. Jobs are created out of necessity, and expire when the need has ended. Trainers, sometimes temporarily called enemies, appear in our lives even when we are not ready to l earn the lessons they bring. In this energy exchange, often referred to as chaos, control is often elusive or non-existent.
For the Chinese, who valued chaos as a source of enlightenment, the symbol for chaos is a union of two other symbols - - one representing danger - - the other, opportunity. Such creative libido was described by May (1975) in The Courage to Create as ". . . the edge of craziness." Danger and opportunity always go hand in hand. In the chaos of creation is the center of craziness.
While most would agree that the lunar tides do not really cause lunacy, few helping professionals would disagree that the "full moon syndrome" is just imagination. After all, the human body is 99% water. If the moon can pull up waves in the ocean and create tides, then the ebb and flow of the human wave machine must be influenced more than is presently acknowledged. However, the craziness of chaos is not just a product of external forces. Chaotic craziness has more to do with the loss of control experienced with every "death" and "rebirth" within the human organism and the family system within which that organism is shaped. May (1991) reflects on this creative process as
". . . characterized by joy one hour and agony the next. But if one wishes to experience the sense of joy, one must be willing to endure the agony of the journey into hell, more commonly called the dullness of hour after hour when inspiration is conspicuous by its absence."
Until the canary stops singing, the world may present as a place of order. Armed with both ritual and myth to explain that order, control is a given. If a fourteen year old is acting out the majority of angry feelings and displaced rage in the family, other members may temporarily be relieved of their responsibility. The "actor-outer" will also nab the attention of a "fixer-upper" now commonly called the "caretaker" in today's new jargon. Regardless of how the situation is framed, it is the family who is in transition, not just the fourteen year old. Back in "uncivilized" times when puberty was considered a rite of passage for the entire family, the ceremonial funeral was often held to symbolize the death of the adolescent and the birth of the adult (Pallenberg, 1985). Today, this important milestone is often ignored until feelings have accumulated to the point of onset. Whatever announces change is not as important as to recognize that death and rebirth are critical to the evolution of the new organism.
Evolution: The New Organism
New is not necessarily better, but new is always different. New represents this moment's best adaptation for survival in a family and an environment that is constantly changing as well. Just as the appendix - - once a prominent organ appendage that produced the necessary enzymes to digest raw meat - - has all but disappeared, so does evolution continue to update the new organism, preparing the accidental tourist specifically about how to pack for the trip.
Many canaries die in vain, their songs unheard. When humans suicide, having unwittingly murdered the wrong person, the message is also too often missed. Nevertheless, in the chaos that follows the reorganization will always bring with it an unconscious reassignment of emotional expression as there are only ten players left on the field to do the job of eleven.
To argue, at that point, as to whether the suicide was active or passive, is to miss the point of the sacrifice. Whether one actively chooses suicide as immediate physical termination, or passively commits soul suicide (Hillman, 1976) on a day by day basis by having no dreams, no creative libido, no craziness - - the results are just as fatal. The canary represents not only a song of hope, but is also a messenger of what lies ahead. Unfortunately, the messenger is often killed as a price for being the visionary. As Voltaire once said, "It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong."
References
Benson, Herbert. The relaxation response. New York: William Morrow, 1975.
Chopra, Deepak. Ageless body; timeless mind. New York: Harmony Books, 1973.
Hillman, James. Suicide and the soul. Dallas. Spring Publications, 1976.
May, Rolo. The courage to create. New York: W.W. Norton, 1975. _____. The cry for myth. New York: W.W. Morrow, 1991.
McFarlane, William R. The second international conference on multiple family group therapy. Asheville, North Carolina: April 22, 1994.
Pallenberg, Rospo. The emerald forest. Los Angeles: Embassy Films, 1985.
Rossi, Ernest. The psychobiology of mind-body healing. New York: Norton & Co., 1993.
Roth, Eric, and Cristoffer, Michael. Mr. jones (screenplay). Executive producer, Richard Gere. Released 1993.
Saunders, Tom. Go ahead - - kill yourself! save your family the trouble: paradoxical therapy with families. Plantation, FL: Distinctive Publishing, 1990.
Taub-Bynum, E. Bruce. The family unconscious. Wheaton, Illinois: Theosophical Press, 1984.
Viorst, Judith. Necessary losses. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986.
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(At the time of the writing of this article.) Tom is a licensed psychologist who provides consulting services for extended family networks, health care facilities, business organizations, corporations, and municipalities through Family Systems Consultants of Winter Park, Florida. He is the founder of the Coliseum Model of Multiple Families Group Therapy and he is an adjunct professor at the Troy State University graduate school. Tom is the author of Go Ahead - - Kill yourself! Save Your Family the Trouble: Paradoxical Therapy with Families.
Tom has an interactive website: www.ThomasMinorSaunders.com.