Fear: The Most Insidious Virus
It seems the collective mission(s) are to slow the spread of the virus so as not to overwhelm the medical system and to save as many lives as possible.
What is the value of life? And how do we value life? An extraordinary amount of earth resources and money are spent to “maintain life” medically for all kinds of very sick people, when life is letting go.
We are a culture afraid of death. Our fear of death rules us. We generally divert to life-saving measures. We do not want to honor the role of death knocking on our doors, sitting on our windowsills. It sits there looming, as the glaciers melt and the temperatures rise here on earth. Yet our species continues to value the life-saving potential of each human life.
Let us be real about it. The life-saving measures in our broken system are for middle or upper class people. Who the ventilator goes to, might be related to age, but it might also be related to whose insurance company will pay out for it. And if the medical system chose life for you as a poor person, you might wish you were dead with the crippling medical bills you will receive after your hospital stay.
Our political system is broken. Capitalism is broken. Because of these two entities, as we focus all of our energies towards the goal of preserving each human life from death from COVID, many children and adults will starve, possibly to death, as a result.
People who live alone and suffer with mental health issues will break down in isolation. I already know of one suicide.
When I think about our global history (though it has become herstory too), so many wars have been fought about religion. Whose God is the right God? Or who is RIGHT about that which lives in the mystery, like what happens after we die? And of course there are the politics and economics of religion too.
While it is true that we are afraid of death, as a culture, it is also true that we humans are pack animals. I grieve to watch the psychology and energetics of the fear of touch and connection with other humans weave into our fabric.
Truly I would rather die than live in fear of connection. It hurts on a soul level to maintain a six foot minimum distance from other humans out in the world.
So I assert, fear of death and fear of connection are far more dangerous than any virus I have encountered.
(Next writing coming on the medicine of grief as a pathway to embracing our fear...)
