Reflections during a Pandemic!

Upon a #StayHome period of over 6 weeks, I had an opportunity to observe, enquire, and now share my observations and enquiry with you!

In a world that faces a pandemic, one cannot but question what is happening, why it is happening and what is next! We hear a political or a capitalist opinion of either blaming another nation to have caused a pandemic -knowingly or unknowingly- or viewed a lack of preparation to something that has always been on the radar but people have never thought that it would happen in their lifetime.

Another opinion is that of a naturalist or an environmentalist view, that humans have reached out to areas within the earth that they have never been to before, and are now being exposed to species that they have never interacted with and have very limited knowledge of. A view of cause and effect!

If we observe the reactions globally, we will see those who blame, those who judge, those who are obedient, those we call selfish, those who show courage, those who are fearful, those who show heroism, etc. All of which can be seen as many facets of the same “energy”. The motivation is to control the pandemic, to survive, and to stay alive!

I would like to highlight three themes that have been observed:

1. Loneliness
2. Fear of death
3. Survival

Theme#1-Loneliness:

The sense of loneliness arises as we stay home and feel separated from the rest of the world! To avoid this feeling, we look for entertainment: we read books, play games, spend hours on social media, watch TV, etc. Perhaps entertainment is the addiction of our time! We have lost touch with ourselves; we cannot sit still for 5 minutes, we cannot observe without thinking (meditate), and out of fear of what we are going to discover if we look inwardly, we run to whatever means of entertainment there is.

Theme#2-Death:

As for death, although we understand that this is a natural part of life, we actively reject the possibility! There seems to be a gap between the conscious and unconscious! Where we understand the concept but never enquired about it deep enough to come to our own realization about death! Is being born and dying or waking up after sleeping the same happening?

Theme#3-Survival:

Last but not least the integral topic of survival! Is it a mythology that we inherited and never questioned? We seem to be reacting in a way to give us the sense of security (to survive) -which is illusory! Perhaps that translated into buying stuff that gives us comfort and a sense of security, i.e. storing protective masks, piling up toilet paper, stock piling on food, etc. We have gone as far as beating up each other to obtain stuff that makes us feel safe or secure!

Further Observations and Reflections:

Some of us have used this time to go inwardly, maybe bringing to consciousness patterns or habits that now deemed unnecessary! Some of us have become creative using their energy to come up with a recyclable DIY home desk, or a 3D printed face mask or shield, others started composing or singing, etc.

No matter how we look at this, there is a fundamental underlying issue- that is of the illusory separation from nature! And there is no better time than the now to enquire about this!

Perhaps one of the most critical enquiries at this time is about the human relation to nature. There seem to be a stronger division of human vs. nature in this pandemic i.e. human having over-consumed the earth resources and nature that is trying to balance itself through tsunamis, earthquakes, and now a pandemic (a general thought of the post-industrial revolution). Is it now the time of humankind vs. COVID-19? Have we lost our connection with nature as one with nature?

Perhaps it’s time to reflect and enquire why we humans see ourselves superior to other habitats, or why do we view the universe as a collection of objects with a series of events and patterns? Is the way we think an influence of scientific thinking vs. the metaphysics? Naturalism vs. materialism? Is the modern man a “free thinker” or a rebel within a controlled sphere -that is suggesting the modern man isn’t really a “free thinker” but rather a “guided thinker”.

For one to be truly free, is for one to come to a realization on their own, not because someone had said this or that.

Is our view of the universe limited by our language? Why does a complete sentence have to contain a verb and a noun?

The object and the subject? Can something “the object” be viewed as a happening? Can life be living?

I have recently heard a recorded talk by a doctor that mentions the human microbiota, and I was surprised to hear him say that human body has more non-human cells than human cells (you can also google human microbiome to see the description). This statement caught my attention, simply because we managed to describe something that is foreign to the “human” as non-human! We gave the human a quality of “humanity”. Is this a quality of sensitivity? Does this mean that anything other than our concept of human such as a bird is non-human i.e. not sensitive? And why do we choose to see “it” this way?

Alan Watts -one of my favorite philosophers- explained:

“The very ideas of impulses, forces, motivations, and urges may be nothing more than abstract intellectual ghosts as impalpable as the mysterious “it” in the sentence, “it is raining”.

The mysterious “it” is the object that we view as external to ourselves. The object (nature) that we (human) want to control, analyze, understand, and use to survive. The motivation such as survival might also be another mythology that we were potentially influenced by! An idea that drives our actions! But what if the object and subject are one?! What if there is no object and no subject? What if our language only consisted of verbing? Living, loving, shining, raining, etc.?

As I mentioned earlier these are reflections and enquiries, and one can only hope that this pandemic is a restructuring in human mind, that would allow a breakthrough and a realization beyond the concepts and beyond limitations!

This time is a time for reflection!