Warriorship of non-resistance

While writing down this text I observe our civil liberties being assaulted immeasurably. The threat of an invisible potentially lethal enemy triggered the most primitive survival mechanism of human system, the fear reactivity. The consequences are paramount as fear has become a prevalent individual and global status and it is reshaping our perception in the way we relate to social life at an incredible velocity. I will skip the discussion whether or not the radical imposed confinement is indeed the best solution to contain the spread of the virus. Even if that's the case, what concerns me most is the emotional and psycho-social implications and responses that may haunt us for a long run, redefining the modes of physical interactions used to be the norm.

More than ever, we all are experiencing a moment of deepest sadness and uncertainty, as though the ground that had been suspending humanity for aeons dissolved into thin air, without any trace, without even allowing time for our slow intellectual faculties to realise the colossal consequences of our newest modes of behaviour.
Humanity is collectively falling into a huge unknown abyss as we had never experienced before, at least not in the recent generations. We are facing an ever-growing pervasive sense of powerlessness and helplessness, paralysed and isolated, impeded from carrying out our daily lives, not knowing how life could possibly be restored and recovered in the aftermath of this pandemic. Business of many sorts and particular lifestyles will be seriously compromised and impacted in manners we cant even predict as the global economy continues collapsing unprecedentedly at a dizzying speed.

Within this rather dark scenario there are seeds of hope to be cultivated, a sense of hope that can be found by embracing the total hopelessness, a sense of hope that raises from abstaining the tempting impulses to live in denial, the almost inevitable drive to cover up an ungraspable void and avoidance of falling. Falling isn't a new phenomena, after all, once we are born falling becomes the existential playground for our planetary exploration. The difference now is that the falling as a state of being, as always mentioned in the practice, has been revealed as a shared global experience, felt in the flesh and hearts, as opposed to a loose amusing concept. The hype of online courses, which might appear at first as dignified attempt to replace the old and to carry on a sense of functionality, can also be seen as a way to conceal aspects of the individual character in handling the crisis. I personally feel the moment is urging us to slow down the previous frenetic routined we used to be immersed in, instead of trying to desperately arrange a quick fix. Time is asking for a rather contemplative approach, observatory mode, to remain serene in the face of such a challenging dynamics that has tossed away every single sense of security we used to hold ourselves to. Time to welcome the unwelcome, to understand that security has always been indeed a human delusory conceptualisation, derived from our power to abstract for the sake of a sense of sanity within individuals and societies at larger.

The harsh lesson we are given is to realise the fragility of our lives to its fullest and being courageous enough to embrace it fearlessly. Is this surging wave of obsessed online exchange a really productive alternative to maintain the health of community bondage? Or should it be another masqueraded means of denial and avoidance (resistance) preventing one from acknowledging and accepting things that are still too hard to accept, that our lives, as we used to have, are being drastically undermined and reduced to fragments despite all? Definitely the response is more complex as it needs to be evaluated deep inside each individual. What one external action may be in alignment to the core of one person, the same action may represent a form of escapism for another.

The relationship to any given action is more relevant than the action itself. How valuable is to examine the true motivations that makes us engaged in whatever circumstance? What are the roots of the impulses that lead us to go about busying ourselves during these times? Escapism, restlessness, unsettling feelings or an integral excavation of the fabric of the beingness that might propel a grounding of the groundlessness? In my perception, I think such contemplation is supreme as we are seemingly on the verge of a unique opportunity to rewrite a whole new humanity script. Which state of mind we will operate to perform such crucial endeavour is the pivotal point.

Will we be driven by covered up fear or by being immersed in deep wisdom and clarity of vision? I feel a compelling impulse to acknowledge this moment as the most critical, a terribly great opportunity to dwell into a self-discovery process ever done before, to plunge deep inside the soul in order to shed light into obscures inner rooms never illuminated before that would likely remain dark forever, had this crisis never knocked on our existential doors. In the face of such a calamity self-inquiry may help to pave the pathless path with dignity. What would we like express whilst all our previous sense of false support have been removed mercilessly? Fear and despair can be recycled into solidarity and compassion when the inner waters rest at peace. The edge between these two worlds though is extremely thin, sharp and delicate. One can tilt to one side or other side in a matter of fractions, without even noticing own behavioural patterns.
But there is a beauty in recognising our vulnerability. There is a humbling lesson hidden in this pervasive wreck that is plaguing the rich and the poor. While at the same time I don't condemn the collective drive to keep the minds obsessively occupied with this massive amount of virtual information and fear-porn, I think not giving due time for self-contemplation will be a disdainful waste of opportunity to reflect in a broader scale what is really matters, how we, as a single organism, would manage to survive through this pandemic, and how wisely our collective choices will influence and determine the rebuilding a new brand ark to continuing sailing the mysterious dance we call life.

Text: Bruno Caverna, Formless Arts Founder
Photo material by www.goodfon.ru