Focusing on What Matters
Never at any time in recent history has there been, such stringent controls on what people can and can’t do with their life. Private has now very much become a public concern.
But now I think it’s the values that we’ve shown in our private lives such as cooperation and understanding that need to be shown in public life too. Humane values can dictate policies and if that means shaking that magic money tree on to the heads of the people who need it then, so be it.
Because this crisis affects EVERYBODY in the world, we are going through a shared experience, granted, it’s a truly harrowing experience but it’s an experience none the less and if this encourages positive values then there is a silver lining.
Covid- 19 has shown that it’s within the power of governments to pause a system which throws people to the lions financially and destroys lives. It’s a system which prioritises profit over people and the effects capitalism can have on individual lives is often overlooked. But now when we’re faced with a problem that can affect everyone from the Prime Minister to his postman that governments choose to sit up and take notice.
Couldn’t this have been done before? Do we really have to experience a pandemic before we access out humanity? Blustering over details rather than focusing on them is how we are used to living but that doesn’t mean it’s how it has to be.
During lockdown I have been reading The Power of Now by Eckhart Toll and in it he says, ‘Approaching death and death itself, the dissolution of the physical form, is always a great opportunity for spiritual realisation. This opportunity is tragically missed most of the time, since we live in a culture that is almost totally ignorant of death, as it’s almost ignorant of anything that truly matters.’
There is nothing like the threat of death to focus on what truly matters. Yes, it may be a clique but it’s proving to be true, never have the softer values such as empathy and kindness been so important in a world where they’re so often overlooked.
E ROY WILLIAMS 