One Sad Truth I’ve Learned From The Coronavirus
Mortality and the effect of fear in a socially connected world.
These past few weeks have been quite the ride. The world is being turned upside down by a new virus called COVID-19, aka the coronavirus. This is not a post about the virus, but our response to the event itself.
Throughout human history, many viruses and diseases have popped up to remind us of how fragile and frail our lives can be. These events remind us how quickly all of it can go away.
Things of this nature are nothing new for us. The difference now is we live in a deeply connected world where information travels instantly around the world.
The internet has radically changed our world
There is no lag or delay with information and events, so anything that happens; we almost instantly know about it. This change gives us very little time to sit and think about things like we had to do in the past because sharing is so easy now.
The internet also highlights all the worst and best in humanity, but it does a great job of showing off the bad. The panic that has ensued in a very short few weeks shows this firsthand.
We immediately go into panic mode and look at worst-case scenarios. Now all of our deepest fears are being shared and retweeted, creating a frenzy around the growing concern. Before you know it, all major sporting events are being canceled, schools are being closed, and people are being quarantined in their homes.
This type of thing didn’t happen before social media was so prominent. We basically have no filter on our lives anymore and because of this things can quickly spiral out of control. I’m not undermining the importance of being careful, but the panic has created more problems than the virus itself.
Fear is far more dangerous
Seeing the reaction from humanity has led me to realize that we are not ready for any kind of mass-level change or big event. The way the media has stirred everyone up into a frenzy to where grocery stores are selling out of toilet paper, and people are stockpiling food like it’s the end-times is mind-boggling.
Considering how much progress is being made within a short few months since the discovery of this is incredible. There’s a strong possibility they will have a vaccine ready for scale in the next few months. Hundreds of thousands of people have contracted it and are recovering.
Yet, despite the positive trends around the virus, people are behaving as if its the opening scene from Zombieland.
Fear is a strong influence for humanity, and when events remind us of our mortality, things can quickly get out of hand. Like no toilet paper at grocery stores and no more Amazon Fresh deliveries.
I find this to be very disappointing. It seems like, despite all the technological advancements we’ve made, we’ve yet to evolve emotionally or spiritually. We still let our emotions and fear run us.
We’re not ready for significant change
Humans have a long way to go in terms of our emotional and spiritual development. We still let the lower and weaker parts of ourselves get the best of us. We completely overlook the big picture and lock ourselves into a state of fear so quickly.
Are we ever going to grow up? I sure hope so, but sometimes it doesn’t feel like it.
Maybe my standards are too high, but the belief in a cosmic story that’s far beyond our everyday comprehension of reality and existence. If we’re ever going to grow, we have to look beyond the trees to catch a glimpse of the forest.
Seeing how quick we drop into fear mode shows me we don’t know the depth of our existence nor the magical story we’re part of. It shows we’re missing the greater reality we’re part of, which goes beyond this world.
The Spiritual Kingdom is all around us if we’d only ask to be shown and simply open our eyes to see it. I hope that I can live in a world that one day recognizes this great Truth to propel us beyond our states of fear and lack.
Time will tell.