A
Few Lessons to Learn From
the
Pandemic of 2019 Coronavirus
Carlos
Cardoso Aveline
While one hundred
nations undergo deep psychological and social change due to the pandemic spread
of 2019 Coronavirus, Western civilization
gets sternly confronted by a lesson or two in the law of life.
Asia has a different Karma, although similarities are
many.
The pandemic brings about immediate transformations in
economic, social and political scenarios. The nature of the changes may be
drastic, but since they are extremely deep and multidimensional, it is not easy
to understand them in the short term. Although decisions must be made with
firmness, they have to be constantly reassessed and adjusted, sometimes in
radical ways. Fundamental decisions of long-term effects are made side by side
with decisive measures that may be needed only for a few months.
The core of our civilization is at stake.
The new situation might help Western nations repent
and recover from the catastrophic process of perverting the Kundalini or vital energy of their citizens - as
Damodar Mavalankar says in his 19th century article “Human Ethics and
Earthquakes”.[1]
The sharp reduction in social interaction, necessary
to protect life from the Coronavirus pandemic, forces many to look inward and
take stock of their lives.
For centuries mankind has suffered from a selfish-materialistic
deviation, and the disease has gotten worse since the early 20th century.
In the name of liberty and individual rights, stimuli
have been granted to drug-addiction, alcoholism, falsehoods, vanity,
sensualism, mental dispersion, abortion and euthanasia. Fanatical versions of
false religiosity have grown side by side with the worship of money,
environmental destruction, sexual perversions, financial crimes and nearly
every form of moral blindness.
Once the lessons of self-restraint and voluntary
simplicity are learned, the basic mistakes that destroy communities are left
aside and the healing can start. However, the process of giving up individual
and collective forms of active ignorance
can only occur if people cease to love illusions, in the first place. This is seldom
an easy thing to do.
Repentance and rejection of materialistic delusions
makes it possible to attain once more a strong connection with one’s own
spiritual soul and the divine world. In Judaism, Teshuvah, the return to the sacred, is an inner movement - of all
Creation as well as particular individuals - toward perfection. For Rav Abraham
Isaac Kook, “it is expressed in the life of the individual and of the nation,
in cultural development and governmental improvement”.
Rav Kook says:
“General penitence, which involves raising the world
to perfection, and particularized penitence, which pertains to the personal
life of each individual …. all constitute one essence. Similarly, all the
cultural reforms through which the world rises from decadence, the improvements
in the social and economic order through this redress of every form of
wrongdoing … all of them constitute an inseparable whole.” [2]
Obstacles create opportunities. There’s no reason to exaggerate
in sadness. The future ahead is sane and bright. Let us not cheat ourselves,
though: is not through the practice of laziness that we will improve life. [3]
The planet and mankind are not in danger. However, the
price to pay before arriving to the next and safer phase of evolution is still uncertain.
Mankind must learn from its mistakes, so as to build
civilizations that deserve to live. The probationary transition to a better
future might need more than one major catastrophe of devastating planetary
dimensions. The good news is that this is only a danger and a possibility,
however great in appearance. The door to wisdom never closes. Moral balance and
karmic responsibility can also be developed in ways that avoid outward
destruction in large scale.
Serious theosophical research shows Humanity is not
abandoned. It has never been forgotten by the immortal sages. It is right now
kindly observed, helped and accompanied by great souls. However, the behavior
of its Teachers - the Masters of the Wisdom in theosophical parlance - is not
that of over-zealous, neurotic mothers who insist in spoiling their children to
death.
The healing of nations will take place through the
widespread practice of self-responsibility and brotherly cooperation. “Deserve,
then desire” is the rule. The first step ahead to cease the causation process
of unnecessary pain consists in understanding the causes and the consequences
of an ethical defeat.
The present civilization is free to interrupt the
process of self-destruction which results from the denial of moral duties. The
next steps in regeneration must take place simultaneously on the various levels
of life: spiritual, mental, emotional and physical. In order to avoid unnecessary
suffering, we will have to awaken and be awakened from the sad nightmare of blind
egocentrism.
NOTES:
[1] The text by Damodar is available Here.
[2] “On Repentance”, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Maggid
Modern Classics, adapted and edited by Pinchas H. Peli, Maggid Books, first
Maggid edition, 2017, printed in Jerusalem, 245 pp., see pp. 227-228.
[3] See “The Future of Mankind is Bright”.
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The above article
was published in the associated websites on 20 March 2020, being reproduced
from our blog at “The Times of Israel”. An
initial and anonymous version of it is part of the March 2020 edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist”, pp.
1-2.
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Read more: “The Meaning of a Pandemic”, an
article by Steven H. Levy, and “Man and Society in Calamity”, the
book by Pitirim A. Sorokin.
You might want to
watch “Video: Visualizing the Future of Mankind”.
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