To stop a virus like SARS-CoV-2 from spreading feels as possible as to stop the water from moving once you have thrown a stone in the lake. Even if you — with great effort — do succeed with constraining the movement of the water with magically implanted walls, then when can you be sure it’s safe to remove those walls again? The water is going to need to be completely and utterly still before you do. Will it ever be? When a virus like SARS-CoV-2 have decided to kill off 1-3% of the human population, maybe all we can do in the end is to let it.
My mother and father called me on Skype. Death was obviously one of the more prevalent topics in our conversation. Father shared with me that they have started to write a final will, a testament to give to me (and my sisters) in case the virus reaches them. They are in the risk group and they made the same math as me: it will be very difficult stop the water from moving. In that very moment I already saw them dying. It made me feel so much heart-aching sorrow…
Now this threat of death seem closer. Suddenly it is tangible, more than what has been heard from rumors. This is clearly going to have emotional effects. I seem to have been wearing a logical distance to the actual reality of that there is a virus out there and that it can kill just about anyone at any given point. This is going to be felt, whether we like it our not.
I like it.
Yes, I do. Because it feels. That shows me that I care and that makes me feel alive. Life seem to be so incredibly empty without that caring. In me there is a constant longing for this paradox — that death is needed for life to feel meaningful.
In the front seat of my own decay
I have been bed-ridden for a couple of days. Most likely am I to be counted among those who got infected by SARS-CoV-2. It caught me somewhere in the east of India or in the north of Myanmar, where I traveled through about three weeks ago. Those areas are like the wild wild west in matters of public health. From there you will never find any reliable statistics concerning any virus. It might as well be more people infected there than anywhere else in the world. These seemingly existing states are barely functioning societies and the border between China and Myanmar is not under full governmental control, so it is simply impossible to discern or regulate the movements of people there. How can the moving water ever become still with conditions like those?
From sitting in the front seat of this experience I can share with you that the virus has been a quite intense thing for me. When the body starts to hurt in the lungs in a way that has never been felt before and I can do nothing but wait and see — then it’s quite close at hand to get a bit impatient and even scared at times.
But(!) as I mentally calm down and this physical state is being accepted, then even death becomes a mysterious adventure. We tend to forget that it is. We tend to focus on the first part of life a lot; growth, hope, vitality. And we tend to think that this is what life is about. Aren’t we missing 50% of the whole experience? Whilst the spring and summer of life, with all its vitality and hopefulness, surely is a nice part of this experience, wouldn’t you say that also the decay and death is as important? How can it be less beautiful?
”But but… you are so young. It’s not your time yet.” I have heard different versions of this. One client of mine is so stuck up with the idea that death is supposed to come when she wants it to come, not when death itself have decided to come. I repeatedly tell her: ”Death comes when it comes, whether you want it or not.” For most people this fear of death is a constant sub-conscious pain, resting like a coiled snake underneath all other mental activity. Even though few people seem to acknowledge that and most would instead readily find other things to do than to ponder those feelings, one can still glimpse in everyone the snake lying there, waiting.
I feel quite certain that I will not die this time, but it is good to be reminded, because one day I will and so will you.
I love the fact of how brutally and completely honest each of your words stands. But the memory of someone you loved or the fear of losing their tangibility…. Are mere prisoners of time? Why the sadness fades away???
Also power to you and your certainity.
Yes, I agree, every thought in time is a prisoner. Sometimes also that is the game we can’t avoid to be a part of. What feels feels. Eventually everything will dissipate or fade, decay. ❤️
när jag läser vad du skrivit kommer jag att tänka på när jag kom in i kyrkan på mammas begravning januari 2014. Min morbror sitter redan där. När vi satt oss vänder han sig mot oss och säger ”Nästa gång är det min tur” jag blir lite förvånad och frågar hur det känns? Svaret blir ”Det blir spännande det”. Han är lite speciell…men lever än.
Tack för det fina och intressanta minnet. Hur gammal är han nu?
87 sådär. Vart är du nu?
Bangkok. Imorgon stänger hela staden ner. Men jag ser inga överfyllda sjukhus någonstans. Det är nästan kusligt lite tecken på denna Corona som de menar är anledning bakom varför det stängs ner.
Håller totalt med! ?
Hey Lars, i’ve been reading your blogs. I miss those travelling days where you follow your intuition. My intuition used to be so strong, i would know exactly what to do at every moment. It’s weaker now, i’ve been busy with worldly things but the weakening also started when i began to trust that i would always follow the right path. Anything that happens was always going to happen. I was/am a believer in destiny. It was even your destiny to not follow your intuition – what made you do that?! Maybe you wanted to see your guru or help your friend. But those thoughts arose and you were compelled to follow them despite your feelings to go back to China. Anyway, the universe is so complex- i can’t pretend to understand how things work. How is your health? I also suspected i had corona, but mildly. I’ve had an inexplicable sore throat for about 2 weeks and fatigue. Some shortness of breath, but it’s hard to say. Hope you are safe and well. Where are you right now? I hope the conditions are happy and calm and conducive to healing xx
Ah, Sarah, thank you. This deserved a proper answer. I logged into my computer instead of using the phone.
So, there seem to be different levels of being happening at the same time. Like for instance: ”Anything that happens was always going to happen.” is not valid as an argument for not listening to the intuition. Intuition is an intelligence in itself that can’t be measured in ’non-dual’ terms. Intuition does happen, whenever it happens, but when there is the seeming choice of choosing it then why not choose it?
And certainly those occasions will arise when it feels important to act on that felt intuition, but still no acting comes, maybe because something need to understand the pain of not listening. This is probably the case in my story (I believe)! I felt like a coward not letting go of ”my Guru” earlier than that. It’s okey to feel like a coward, nothing wrong with that.
We both remember that this was only a story, right? How can I share all aspects of this with anyone? Even myself I can not see.
So, yes, it is complicated (and perhaps not). I will also not pretend that I understand shit. But sometimes seeming understanding arises, that is also as valid.