The collective consciousness of humanity
has been tested by the Covid 19 pandemic. We have not experienced anything on
this scale across the world in the longest time. And it has stripped bare the
core essence of human nature. The relative scale of goodness and evil. We have
seen extraordinary acts of selflessness and kindness that have rekindled our
faith in humanity. At the same time we have also been exposed to brutality,
selfishness and an appalling degree of pig-headedness. This incessant assault
on our consciousness may result in long lasting psychological trauma unless we
are appropriately anchored in the storm.
For what is the virus..? Apart
from being a pathogen that disproportionately increases morbidity and mortality
in the medically vulnerable, it has also created a zero sum game. It has dredged our deepest
fears and hidden resilience up to the surface for all to see. The zero sum game
is created as we grapple with finite resources and realise the
interconnectedness of all living beings.
This interconnectedness is
present all the time, yet it takes a life changing event to bring it to our
awareness. The very act of doing something or not doing anything at all is
enough to cause infinite ripple effects impacting each and every being around us,
in a manner our limited consciousness is unable to fathom. And the pandemic has
demonstrated exactly that – if we spread the infection to just one other
person we may impact everything around us in a manner that can cause
widespread damage and chaos. And that is the sheer degree of ownership and responsibility
that we face at every moment in our lives everyday irrespective of the pandemic.
If we are not mindful of the
impact of our actions on ourselves and others than the intricately linked
consciousness will eventually bring us face to face with the consequences. It
is just that the pandemic has smeared this subtle truth harshly in our faces.
This perhaps is the meaning of karma. Whatever we do to others shapes our own
consciousness. When we are selfish, deceitful, uncaring we shape our own
consciousness on these lines. If we are genuine, empathetic and caring this
shapes our consciousness as well. This impacts on our perspective in life and
then creates patterns of behaviour that define what we call our destiny.
The understanding that our
actions have unfathomable consequences may lead to worry about action itself.
How to we decide what is right and what is wrong? The complex ethical and moral
dilemmas we face currently have no guidebooks. In the absence of a clear rule
book we are guided by a simple principle. The principle of appropriateness.
Appropriateness simply means doing what appears to be the most appropriate
course of action with the information and variables we are aware of in the
moment. Appropriateness is fluid, mindful and without judgment, as it requires us to
leave our individual selves and think collectively. Rightness and wrongness on
the other hand are dependent on the relative nature and context as well as the
desired future outcome – and inherently linked to the ego. Feeding leftovers to
a starving homeless person is not the same as feeding leftovers to your boss!
The core nature of all human
experience is always relative. Good and bad do not exist on a measuring scale
of good, gooder and goodest or bad, badder and baddest. We strive to apply finite measurable principles
in an abstract immeasurable universe based on our own societal conditioning. A
bear would not care much for diamonds and you would not as well if you hadn’t
been conditioned to believe in certain things. For at the end of the day all our
experiences are drawn upon a relative measure of our previous experiences in
life and what we have been conditioned to believe. Misery and joy can be greater
or lesser only with a comparator. In the absence of a comparator it becomes a
matter of perspective. In the best or worst of times can we not find someone
who appears to be more joyous than us or more miserable than us? Having this knowledge
shouldn’t we then aim for doing what is most appropriate in the moment in the
hope of an appropriate outcome not just for ourselves but for every being and
always guided by empathy, kindness and light? I suppose that is what the
mystics meant when they said ‘ all is one’..
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