The Control Myth & Coronavirus:
We like to be in control of our lives, and, of course, we learn soon enough that while there is a lot we can control, there is also much that lies beyond our power. Events like personal illness and that of our friends and family; the chance occurrence of natural disasters; the incidence of accidents on road, rail, water, and air; and much else are examples of this. Then a novel virus called SARS-CoV-2 that causes the disease COVID-19 seems to spell the end to all we hold dear like our valued freedom to go about our daily business unhindered. Civilisation of all varieties, especially that of the rich Northern hemisphere, seems to be grinding to a halt, stymied by a microscopic nucleic acid, that to my mind looks like a beautifully coloured sphere with projecting spikes rather like a maritime mine from World War II. Incredibly it latches its spikes into host human cells, gains access and multiplies almost totally unhindered in the bodies of the immuno-compromised. Those are the unlucky ones with underlying diseases. Others of the population vary from presenting with serious flu-like symptoms to being totally asymptomatic. No wonder, then, that when modern computers and laptops came on the scene hackers were able to develop sequences of code aptly named viruses that could corrupt many programs developed by the smartest brains. And my goodness, I’d imagine that as a so-called civilized people we have spent more on defending our technologies from viruses than on defending our own human bodies from microbe attacks. After all, greed is practically the sole consideration of unethical capitalism. I often wonder whether ethical capitalism exists at all?
The mystics of all religious and spiritual traditions have been gently reminding humankind for millennia now to “wake up,” “become aware” and stop living in the delusional world of limitless progress. Their message has been smothered by the unruly din of accelerating progress-driven more by financial gain than the good of society. Thankfully, there are some bright lights in the billionaire entrepreneurial world like Bill Gates who these days spends much of his time and money in philanthropic pursuits. He is among the few, and, of course, it was he, who in a famous TED talk in 2015 warned the Western World that we had more to fear from a global viral pandemic than from any nuclear war. In the place of weapons obliterating us from the outside, we would instead, especially the weakest amongst us, be slowly and painfully fragmented from the inside by a virus that attacks our very own bodies at a cellular level.
In short, the Western capitalist system has been delivered a severe body blow, knocked to the canvas by an invisible invader. For a short while at least it will require hospitalization. It will no doubt recover, but at the cost of thousands, if not millions, of lives. But the question remains as to whether it will get up and enter the fighting ring of human civilization and culture as a wiser and less greedy exploiter of the earth’s resources and, indeed, of the millions of poor souls in the less fortunate Southern hemisphere. We can but hope that lessons will have been learned. Sic transit Gloria mundi. (“Thus, the glory of the world passes away”)
We like to be in control of our lives, and, of course, we learn soon enough that while there is a lot we can control, there is also much that lies beyond our power. Events like personal illness and that of our friends and family; the chance occurrence of natural disasters; the incidence of accidents on road, rail, water, and air; and much else are examples of this. Then a novel virus called SARS-CoV-2 that causes the disease COVID-19 seems to spell the end to all we hold dear like our valued freedom to go about our daily business unhindered. Civilisation of all varieties, especially that of the rich Northern hemisphere, seems to be grinding to a halt, stymied by a microscopic nucleic acid, that to my mind looks like a beautifully coloured sphere with projecting spikes rather like a maritime mine from World War II. Incredibly it latches its spikes into host human cells, gains access and multiplies almost totally unhindered in the bodies of the immuno-compromised. Those are the unlucky ones with underlying diseases. Others of the population vary from presenting with serious flu-like symptoms to being totally asymptomatic. No wonder, then, that when modern computers and laptops came on the scene hackers were able to develop sequences of code aptly named viruses that could corrupt many programs developed by the smartest brains. And my goodness, I’d imagine that as a so-called civilized people we have spent more on defending our technologies from viruses than on defending our own human bodies from microbe attacks. After all, greed is practically the sole consideration of unethical capitalism. I often wonder whether ethical capitalism exists at all?
The mystics of all religious and spiritual traditions have been gently reminding humankind for millennia now to “wake up,” “become aware” and stop living in the delusional world of limitless progress. Their message has been smothered by the unruly din of accelerating progress-driven more by financial gain than the good of society. Thankfully, there are some bright lights in the billionaire entrepreneurial world like Bill Gates who these days spends much of his time and money in philanthropic pursuits. He is among the few, and, of course, it was he, who in a famous TED talk in 2015 warned the Western World that we had more to fear from a global viral pandemic than from any nuclear war. In the place of weapons obliterating us from the outside, we would instead, especially the weakest amongst us, be slowly and painfully fragmented from the inside by a virus that attacks our very own bodies at a cellular level.
In short, the Western capitalist system has been delivered a severe body blow, knocked to the canvas by an invisible invader. For a short while at least it will require hospitalization. It will no doubt recover, but at the cost of thousands, if not millions, of lives. But the question remains as to whether it will get up and enter the fighting ring of human civilization and culture as a wiser and less greedy exploiter of the earth’s resources and, indeed, of the millions of poor souls in the less fortunate Southern hemisphere. We can but hope that lessons will have been learned. Sic transit Gloria mundi. (“Thus, the glory of the world passes away”)
