This is not the first time humanity faces a frightening pandemic, but COVID-19 or coronavirus is undoubtedly one of a kind. No other health crisis in the past washed over the entire world like a tsunami leaving basically no corner of the planet unaffected. The reason for this is that never before has the world been so interconnected and interdependent as now. Such a closed and entangled system in nature is teaching us that we will either succumb separately or thrive together. This is the strong lesson the coronavirus crisis is showing us.
The Black Death, SARS, and the most deadly pandemic so far, the Spanish flu, which killed around 50 million people worldwide in 1918, were widespread disease outbreaks that deeply impacted humanity. But there has never before been a blow such as the coronavirus, so broad and global in scope, grabbing everyone together, turning our lives upside down in a blink of an eye. The travel bans that immediately swept the world froze our obsession with globetrotting, no matter where, just as long as we were able to escape. Our perspective on money has also changed since the crisis, making us reevaluate our priorities in life. Our endless consumerism and compulsive quest for leisure suddenly paused and, most likely and fortunately, will never return to what it was. We will need to adapt to a new lifestyle, more basic, settled and wise.
“The situation is showing the whole world how weak and vulnerable humans are in the face of nature. It is a lesson in humility, when we previously felt that reality was at our fingertips for our own use, and that we had the right to exploit anything and everything around us without consideration of others.”
The War on Our Nature
In addition to pandemics, wars have also left devastation behind them in various parts of the planet generation after generation. Previously, the world divided into camps to fight its conflicts: Germans and those against Germany, Russians and Americans, Chinese and Westerners, Iranians and Israelis. Now, the entire world has become one village, and the coronavirus has proven just that. In comparison to previous ones, this crisis is affecting all of humanity without making any distinctions of background, origin, beliefs or status in society. Simple people, government officials, spouses of world leaders, and celebrities—no one is immune to the contagious.
The situation is showing the whole world how weak and vulnerable humans are in the face of nature. It is a lesson in humility, when we previously felt that reality was at our fingertips for our own use, and that we had the right to exploit anything and everything around us without consideration of others.
Nothing in nature happens by chance. The current situation offers humanity a new direction and fresh outlook since now the problem is not aimed at any specific country, region, or leader, as was the case in the past. This time, we are all navigating the trouble waters in the same boat, and we need to recognize that the only enemy to fight is our selfish, egoistic nature, the source of the world’s imbalance. Viruses and other problems of the ecosystem are the direct result of the damage that humans inflict on the system of nature through reckless and abusive behavior, both to the system and to others. In truth, all are integral parts of the same world, which functions as an enormous mesh of interconnected cogwheels.
A Cure for Mankind
There is no prohibition on enjoyment and pleasure in life. Our desire for pleasure is the fabric of our nature and its fulfillment is precisely the purpose of creation: to do good and bring contentment to its creations. The question is: to what purpose do we enjoy, and more importantly, at expense of what or whom?
Therefore, as painful and unnerving as the pandemic may seem, the coronavirus can really become a cure for humanity’s ills if we learn its primary lesson: the only angel of death is the human ego, and until we rise above it, we will never enjoy a good life. We have been given an awakening to change paths and connect with each other so that together we can unleash the positive force of nature that becomes revealed through our harmonious relationships. This world-changing revelation is a reason for gratitude.
