It's the end of the world as we know it and, with that, a new life begins... It will be like a collective rebirth, where we emerge from our eggs shells, chastened, blinking in the light.
Who will we be after our quarantine-life is over? Paradox is the law of existence and we proceed along the slippery road to moderation, by visiting extremes. Lent or Ramadan are good examples of this spiritual truth; how after fasting, we feast.
So, it shall also be after this Covid lockdown. Following the sensory deprivation and isolation, it's natural that we crave company, contact and celebration, of our lives and others. Hopefully, this means approaching strangers with greater tenderness, embracing and loving more freely, dancing...
The prospect of death is vivifying, said Beckett. Having tasted our mortality, we savor the flavor of life more, in its frailty and unpredictability. Recognizing, on a deeper level, how interconnected we are.
The creature comforts that we once took for granted -- good health, enough food, human touch -- have now become sacred.
So, what do I want to do when Corona virus ends: be around people, while trying to maintain this heightened sense of awareness and gratitude.
That way this lesson will not be wasted on us and we recognize the disguised blessing.
Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.
We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world.
—-Arundhati Roy