Erich Fromm – a Philosopher says – “Love is the productive reorientation of the psyche – an active and creative relatedness of man to his fellow man, to himself and to nature.” In this precarious times, when you are stopped forcibly from your daily busyness and when you are surrounded by what seems to be an increasingly closing-in threat to your mortality, how are you productively reorienting your psyche? How are you relating this crisis to yourself, to your fellow humans and to the nature? Are you actively feeling… • Afraid and anxious that this will hit you and your loved ones and you cannot do anything about it… • Guilty that you are not doing enough to protect your loved ones especially children… • Fearful that the security blanket of your known routines, comforts, possessions etc., are violently yanked away from under your feet and you feel helpless, fragile and vulnerable… • The need to blame others who may or may not have deliberately started or spread this virus… When the threats are so tangible and real and so close to you – is it even possible to reorient these feelings towards a productive orientation ie., Love? Can Love of this kind, ie., loving everything you go through without fear, a remote possibility? Or is it a text book knowledge, propagated by philosophers and religions? Human beings are endowed with an enormous capacity to feel hopeful facing the most precarious times in their lives and history has proven this time and again. Author Maria Popova says – “Hope is a continual negotiation between optimism and despair, a continual negotiation of cynicism and naivete. We hope precisely because we are aware that terrible outcomes are always possible and often probable, but that choices we make can impact the outcomes.” So what choices are you making today right now and continue to make in facing this crisis? You can stand in these insecure times with Awareness and Acceptance of the conditions of today. • Acceptance of any situation removes judgement and blame and expands the creative faculties. • Acceptance creates hope knowing that there are no guarantees or certainties. • When you stop the blame game and become fully aware of the danger to life, you can mobilize action that brings drastic changes to life and to our way of organizing the society that we live in. When there is every probability that life will prevail, why think and give in to the rising percentages and probabilities on an hourly basis? This does not mean that you should not keep up to date with information – what it means is that you need not consume the alarmist, scare mongering, fearful stories, statistics as well as conspiracy theories throughout the day. It is time to “Productively reorient” your life towards Love. The opposite of Love is Fear – not Hatred. Love & Fear are two swords that cannot fit into the one sheath. Actively decide which one you would use from moment to moment – Love or Fear? If you blame yourself, if you blame others, if you judge other countries or even our own for what they are doing or not doing – then you are choosing to live in Fear and Hopelessness. Unconditionally accept that we are all (world wide) in this together and bless the situation,. This acceptance and blessing can only happen if you love yourself first and foremost. Self-Love is the opposite of Selfishness. Selfishness is a greedy concern with oneself which is the result of a lack of genuine self-love. Love here is an active responsibility and includes a variety of attitudes – that of care, responsibility, respect, kindness etc., Love can be expressed from moment to moment as situational values. You are not a spectator of this unfolding drama – You and I are responsible – responsible to respond and to attend to expressed and unexpressed needs of yourself, of your family and of the others. How kind are you towards yourself? How loving are you towards yourself? Love and kindness first and foremost towards yourself, silencing the critique in your head and filling it with hope and optimism is just as contagious as a life threatening virus. Spread the contagion of love and not fear – starting with you and let it flow from you non-stop. Allow this to penetrate through the surface to the core of your being and relate to others from this core, from the centre of your being. Accept & Bless the uncertainties of life. Live in Love and Spread Love. Until Next Time
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