The Transience of the System in the Time of Coronavirus

In these strange days of forced isolation imposed by the coronavirus , which gravitate around our lives unexpectedly falling on the future of our country , our homes have transformed into many small schools, in which our children have also become our little students.

“We have to do Science, Dad..” the little girl who is in second grade tells me; “the teacher sent us this material..” . I open the cards and we see that it talks about plants, their leaves and specifically the theme of “Decaducity of leaves”. Can you recognize based on the name of the plant, if the type of leaflet belongs to the deciduous or evergreen category? - the assignment reported. Let's begin. I start explaining to the little girl who is following me curiously, the characteristics of the plants that we see in the images; I describe the peculiarities of each plant, the cycle of their vegetation, until she, quite confident, asks me to proceed independently to fill in the cards. “I understand, Dad. Now I'll do it, you just watch” . So the little girl begins, and I observe her calmly from a distance, until in the calm and silence of the environment, immersed in that theme, suddenly an intuition arises in me spontaneously; it is a crystalline, authentic voice and although silent it appears to me as the voice of conscience, our inner talking cricket, which begins: The transience of the leaves, autumn, have always constituted a season, one of the phases that are part of a larger process that not only characterizes what nature is, but above all denotes its constitution and its functioning: the seasons, in fact, represent in themselves the cycle of life, the essence and intrinsic nature of creation itself, from birth to death, until it perpetuates itself in a new rebirth.

And if this natural principle that applies to every living being, whether plant, animal or human, were to apply it for a moment to the Society in which we live, what would we notice? After all, hasn't history shown us, over and over again, that it is cyclical and that over time societies have been born, developed, reached their maximum splendor, only to then proceed towards an inexorable decline, following the course of a cycle? These days, perhaps for the first time in our lives, we are living within a scenario, a future, that we would never have expected.

In the context of a country, ours, already tested over the years by a suffering economy and tending towards decay also from a social, moral and political point of view, an event of extraordinary magnitude has completely and literally turned our lives upside down: from one day to the next, in fact, due to the coronavirus, we can no longer move freely as we had always done until a few hours before, we are forced to maintain a certain physical distance from other people, our movements must be limited to only what is strictly necessary and for indisputable reasons, most of the shops and many economic activities that revolved around the habits of our life have been suspended. In this regard, many things have been said in recent days; for some it was a particularly unfortunate coincidence, for others instead it would be an infamous strategy, a manipulation carried out by an oligarchy of powerful people who guide the fate of the planet and who have very specific goals in mind; for someone else, however, the event would be functional to the economic and structural "pulling" of Italy by international financial speculation, and for someone else still, we would instead be witnessing these days some "technical tests" of dictatorship; there are those who are convinced that the coronavirus was "packaged" deliberately in a laboratory and others who are convinced that these epidemics can happen - after all "even Bill Gates had said so" - In the midst of all these voices then, there is also a segment of people, who in defiance of everything and everyone, do not ask any questions but simply live the situation for what it is. In short, almost everyone has given their opinion and many things have been said about it and others continue to be said. Well, it is not my intention to dwell on these aspects, but rather to develop a thought on the state of things, taking note of the objective reality that we are living and on this basis begin to draw the necessary reflections.

Because never before have we had the opportunity; and perhaps, this difficult test that we find ourselves living, could for some of us take the form of a "blessing" if only we know how to grasp it, if only we have eyes to see. We have been accustomed since we were little to run continuously and to act according to "pre-established patterns" that have been put "in front of us" by society - and first of all by those around us - and from which we have had to prepare and adapt quickly, accepting them as "ours". Ultimately, we have not had much space to ask ourselves, who we are and what is this wonderful mystery called "Life" after all; also because, especially in recent times, we have been accustomed to filling every "empty" space with something to do and to always be connected to someone or something; boredom, the empty spaces that we felt as children and now as middle-aged adults, now seem like a distant memory; and yet only a few decades have passed; and those moments that were empty, but only apparently, often left room for our most intimate reflections: then, in silence and with our gaze lost in an indefinite point, we let that most authentic part of us emerge, that voice that spoke to us of dreams, that put us in front of many questions, that questioned us about our purpose... in short, that voice that made us feel that we were there present, that we were alive.

Here, have we ever asked ourselves what we live for? Since we were born we have been put on a train that runs inside a track; we have accepted it without asking ourselves too many questions and we have adapted. But was it really in our intentions? If we could have chosen without any conditioning, what would we have chosen for ourselves? At a certain point we are born and from that moment every life becomes unique and precious in itself; but what is it that gives meaning and value to our life, for which we believe it is worth living? What is it that pushes us to go forward every day of our life, the resignation and passive inertia of an ineluctable destiny or the energy of a fire that we feel flowing in our veins and that makes us feel that we are active instruments of an immense, greater plan? Our whole life is played out on this level.

Of course, the environment, the historical period, the culture and the society will always end up influencing us, this is undeniable and we would all be involved, some more and some less, but at a certain point - if we become conscious and aware of this - the choice becomes ours: do we live to be completely inserted into the "hamster wheel" of produce - consume - die or do we live for something higher, more sublime and that ends up giving a real meaning to our life? we have been used to selling our time in exchange for a certain amount of money that served to fill us with a bunch of things that we thought would make us happy, only to discover once we bought them that it wasn't like that. Not money then, but precious time wasted... the only thing that once lost will never come back.

So what? So every time we fall for it again: as soon as we have fulfilled one wish, another one immediately appears in an endless, hopeless cycle. We end up making choices that do not depend on us, that are not really ours, that do not arise from our true will but are instead induced; without us realizing it. And we who are so worried about our social image, about form, about the "silently commanded standardization" in this society where the important thing is "having" rather than "being" and where "form takes on the role of content", we adapt to every command. And the more others fight to adapt... the more inadequate we feel if we don't. We see the result every day: we are masks that smile at each other, inside bodies that boil and scream "mercy". Let it be clear that there is nothing wrong with materiality... as long as it is pursued with awareness and that the choices we make arise from our most authentic feelings... and not from what the outside expects from us.

In fact, we have first walked through long years of development and then of abundance to finally arrive at having a surplus in praise of the most unbridled materiality, to now realize that our human qualities have never gone hand in hand, and hence the unhappiness we feel. What is it that makes a human being worthy of being called "human"? Is it not love, peace, tolerance, solidarity, honesty, compassion, the spirit of brotherhood..? Aren't these the values ​​that make life worth living and that only through them can we have true happiness? Now we are beginning to realize that no matter how much materiality we might obtain, if we do not have these qualities alongside us, we will never have true peace, true joy, true happiness. Perhaps this strange period has come precisely to announce this to us... that we have arrived at the autumn of the "system", thus announcing its inevitable and eminent "transience"; which does not mean the end of the material world, but the sunset of a system that has now degenerated in favor of a "paradigm shift", the birth of a new era that can no longer ignore man, his virtues and his innate Divinity. An era in which matter will necessarily return to being functional to man and not vice versa; matter will have to return to being "at the service", but above all an "instrument" suitable for the purpose of elevation and expansion of consciousness in a vision of continuous evolution. Until the return to the Father's house... to that One who permeates everything and who represents the sole and only cause of all that is... of all that we can perceive. Then life will no longer flow within a track that is an end in itself and man will no longer be a mere "gear" that turns madly in the same place from morning to night, like a donkey around a millstone; but finally he will attribute a deeper "meaning" to his life.

A Gnostic Gospel wisely reports: “Some men walk a lot, but never arrive anywhere. When evening comes for them, they have seen neither city, nor village, nor nature, nor creation... nor Angel” . A passage that makes you think. The elements will therefore have to return to being functional to man - and thanks to them - he will be able to live in abundance and free up much of his time to dedicate it to something higher: then the world will be art, it will be beauty, it will be works of sublime genius that raise the heart and spirit towards the omnipotent. Personal talent will be encouraged in its maximum expression and this will be made available for the well-being of all; at the same time, the wild competition we are used to will be banished and replaced with a more profitable “collaboration”.

Well, many are saying in these difficult days that in the end "nothing will be the same again": I have heard it said several times by some economists, some politicians support it and even some philosophers predict it. I honestly don't know what will happen, but I also feel from my little voice, from my inner talking cricket, that it is very likely that nothing will be the same again; and I feel that in the immediate future there will be more and more transformations, events that like this will happen for the first time, leaving us disoriented, helpless but above all often divided; and not only within society itself, but also within our own families. As always, however, this time too we will be the ones to choose: if we know how to stay united, if we learn not to see our neighbor as a threat and above all if we know how to listen to the voice of our conscience, then not only will we have the opportunity to transform ourselves, but we will also be given the opportunity to transform our entire world, making sure that this fantastic planet stops its race towards destruction. We must be certain, however, that the world is a cycle and even winter - however harsh it may be - always comes with the purpose of closing a time that is now over and thus being able to start a new spring, to inaugurate a new rebirth that will be the bearer of values ​​that aim at life, respect and human evolution in the broadest sense of the term. But we must first face this last season. And it will depend only on us whether this winter will be long or short, whether it will be harsh or instead "mild".

Absorbed in these thoughts, I am suddenly “brought back to the colored cards on the desk” by the voice of my daughter who, having now finished her little job, asks me: “Dad... but after... in spring the leaves grow again, right?” “Of course, my love!” I reply. After winter, however hard it may be, spring always returns, never have any doubts about this.