"Jerry, you're an asshole. How can you possibly say "it's all going to be ok"?
Because it's true.
~
~
Terrified of the empty shelves, stock market mayhem, and the possibility of getting sick?
I get it.
In Black Swan events (low probability events that have huge impacts if they *do* occur), uncertainty is king. Uncertainty breeds fear, and when fear reaches a tipping point, panic ensues. Mass panic is often a precursor for society regressing as a whole developmentally downward, into tribalistic tendencies, which creates more uncertainty, and the whole self feeding cycle repeats.
And yet, I offer with a straight face, "it's all going to be ok?"
Yes, and here's why:
Before Covid-19 hit, during its mayhem, and long after it's in our review mirror, a characteristic of our world has and will continue to be true:
We live in an "and" world. Good and bad don't exist independently, they are are poles of a unitive experience. In english: if all that existed was good, you wouldn't know what good was, there would be nothing to compare it to. If temperature was an infinite constant of 68 degrees, hot and cold would be meaningless terms. You have to have opposite qualities exist concurrently, in order to even know they exist.
"Thanks for your strained attempt at philosophy, Jerry, but I'm terrified, is that all you've got?"
No, there's more:
The things we're scared for today because of Covid-19 are real issues. Health. Systems under strain. Markets uncertain. Thing is - the world of opposites existed 3 months ago, it continues to exist in the reign of Covid-19, and it will continue long into the future. That means: alongside the rampant fear, there are *also* oases of calm out there; along with every group of grocery hoarders, there's somebody checking in on their shut-in neighbor; alongside empty Cathedrals in Rome, there are neighbors in Italian villas singing across deserted streets.
Covid-19 is presenting a once-in-a-generation opportunity for us to show up for each other. Not ignoring the chaos, but focusing on compassion and connection that exists right alongside it.
It's already happening - the stories are there - are you seeing them or reading them? Families and neighbors are coming back into contact again. Asking each other how they're feeling, what they're reading, what their hopes are amidst the fear. People are making eye contact in front of fear-cleared store shelves and laughing at the TP shortage. Medical professionals are going above and beyond to treat something that is still coming into focus.
When we look at it from that perspective, it becomes less of a "when will this madness end" and more "look at the amazing things that are happening alongside the madness".
It's not about ignoring the fear or doing what we need to get through these strange days - we just see that fear is one hand of the human experience that is reaching out for us. The other, calm - is also there, waiting to salve, and making us realize that maybe it's not that things are *going to be ok* - maybe, in a way that can be refuted by the head but embraced by the heart - maybe they already are.
