HYDERABAD: These last one-and-a-half years have set me thinking, are these the worst of times we are living in? Living amidst bereavement, sickness, a collapsed healthcare system, restrictions on movement and lockdowns. While opinions the world over remain divided on getting vaccinated or not, it has made for many a teatime conversation about efficacy and policy. While the fear of a third wave lurks, children are the worst affected as parents are in a dilemma ‘to school or not to school.’ Feelings, qualitative parts of reality, aesthetics and mental happiness have been tossed out of the window. So have routine, passion, social behaviour and fun.
This pandemic has given rise to gadget addiction, and behavioural, moral and mental deterioration. It has also spawned the rise of technological fundamentalism -- uncontrollable use of technology and unprecedented technological ‘progress’. We are now entering a technological ‘Disneyland’ and a moral ‘Sin City’. The statistics of everything that’s bad are on the rise. Multiple dimensions of how the pandemic has affected us are being studied to death. This has to be the worst of times, right? Many armchair philosophers are proudly thumping their chests, saying this is the beginning of the end. But is it really? Has the pandemic not taught us lessons as well?
It is slowly teaching us that it is the beginning of a new life and that it’s a matter of learning wholeness. We have learnt to challenge the concepts that humans dominate the Earth, that one must progress no matter what and that monetary gains reign highest. We have realised that all these days, we have lived in a ‘matrix world’, suffering from a contagious disease called Cultural Immune Deficiency that renders us unable to differentiate right from wrong, unable to resist the allure of monetary gain, technology, comfort and personal gain.
This pandemic has been a test of our love for humanity, the deeper affinities for life and our ability to practise self-discipline and self-control. We have learnt that with all our expertise and grandiose progress, we are powerless against a cyclone, a hurricane or a lowly virus. We have learnt that there is no higher good than human kindness, compassion and understanding.
We have learnt the value of time, the strength of relationships, the fragility of life and the ability to perceive humanity as a whole and not as an individual. We have realised that we have in us the innate capacity for kindness, love and happiness. This is like seeing a beautiful flower on a cactus in the desert.
For a few precious seconds, stand amidst the sadness and chaos and appreciate the fact that we are alive today and that this is our earth, this new knowledge is the intelligence we need to survive. Yes! It is the worst of times and the best of times.
(The author is a psychotherapist at Dhrithi Wellness Clinic, Banjara Hills)
Mind Matters
Dr Purnima Nagaraja