One Bitter Pill to Swallow
Maria Umansky & Luciano Lucia
One Bitter Pill to Swallow
An outside untrained observer may think that parents are occasionally cruel and unfair to their children because the observer cannot understand parents’ actions within the framework of his/her limited experiences and untrained perceptions. For example, when parents give their children medicine that doesn’t taste good, kids may throw a tantrum! To an untrained observer, the concept of parents having their children’s best interests will promptly fall on deaf ears because he/she simply lacks the bigger picture. However, we tend to believe that humans have immediate access to the full picture of what is going on in the situations encountered.
Indeed, as we grow to become adults, we also have the same attitude toward obstacles in our lives. Moreover, if life has taught us anything it is this: our understanding of this world and of our own lives is VERY limited. It is so limited that if we apply evolutionary biology, we start to clarify our perceptions through pain/pleasure principles, i.e., we do things we enjoy and avoid things that hurt us. Yet, if we pause for a moment, we’d agree that this construct is NOT the most advanced way of perceiving reality as revealed by the parent story above; this is not to say when it hurts, it doesn’t — it hurts! We’re therefore more than willing to do anything to stop the pain.
As an even more poignant reminder of bitter pills, today we enter the 7th month of the Coronavirus lockdown and without question we feel the strain. We’re feeling it emotionally as evidenced by our constant fear of the contagion that keeps us away from our usual haunts; and we’re feeling it physically by being away from our loved ones and seeing so many people lose their jobs. And even more starkly, we also see that young people are rebelling, the way youth usually do, by denying the danger of getting infected or worse, feeling that it’s worth the risk, making it harder on everyone else who suffers the consequences.
We hear the constant refrain not only from youth, but from all sectors of society: “When are we getting back to our old lives?” It is like the little child who was accustomed to always playing video games but cannot anymore because there is a blackout. How many of us are willing or want to interpret the deeper and more profound message of this virus? Do you think that Nature sent it by accident? In a biological sense, we recognize the pain blinding us and we want it to stop. But, like the parents who wish to give their children the bitter pills, the only way to stop it is to swallow the lesson we are given! It is entirely possible that any search for biological immunization will be fruitless because this virus is much more a symptom of our condition. The presumption of a vaccination or any other synthetic cure may only exacerbate the problem because the cause of the virus has not been addressed.
Where were we headed as a society? The ecological crises, growing rate of depression and substance abuse, or the very essential feeling of being able to rely on someone’s help — we were headed for an abyss. We became so profit driven as a society that we have made its pursuit into an idol, sacrificing our health and the very future of this planet. All of it stems from one common problem — we don’t see each other as one human organism. We don’t realize that harming another hurts us all. We underestimate how detrimental loneliness is. Our inability to perceive the truth of our broken connections made us push nature to “fight back” to bring us into balance. Like the child who has an illness, our illness is born of our disdain for each other, of trying to place the individual profit over others’ wellbeing as our ego dictates, and of intolerance for another’s point of view. The cure can only be found in looking deeper within ourselves.
Yet, if we look at the positive changes that happened over this time, we find that the earth’s ecology is vastly improving, we’re less frantic because we are commuting less and consequently, having more time to spend with our families. We are getting healthier by cooking more, exercising more (the workout clothing sales are booming). The focus is brought from the outer hype to the inner well-being. Perhaps we should take a moment to reflect on the blessings and how we can cure this disease by healing our broken relationships? Please come join us if you wish to learn more!
