To enjoy the goodness of creation and be drawn by its beauty into adventurous living, is a risk worth taking. It seems like the avoidance of risk has suddenly become the ultimate value, and this value has been enforced onto billions of people across the world. There is beauty in risk and without it, something very precious about being human is lost.
Something about the worldwide response to Covid-19 has been bothering me. I could not quite put my finger on it for a while. No, it’s not just the inconvenience or economical implications of the lockdown. It’s something deeper. Something very wrong yet so pervasive in all the arguments that it is hardly noticed. We are constantly told that decisions are science driven, giving the impression that they are impartial and beyond dispute. Yet scientific data needs interpretation and the decisions made based on those conclusions are far from neutral. They have very definite philosophical and ethical biases that drive them. However good our scientists are, they are often oblivious to the non-scientific influences that shape their opinions.
The underlying assumption that has driven much of the decisions, is that biological survival is the ultimate value, that nothing is more sacred than that, and all other values can be sacrificed without further consideration. I wonder to what extant our primitive survival instinct and the fear of death have driven decisions and whether scientific data has simply been a convenient tool with which to support it.
Please don’t misunderstand me, if a few weeks of isolation saved thousands of lives, that would obviously be a good thing. We don’t yet understand the unintended consequences of these actions and whether in fact more lives will be lost due to other reasons, but let’s just assume for the moment that it actually did save lives. And there have been unintended positive consequences as well. I don’t discount them at all. Yet, that ‘something’ that was nagging in me, that feeling that despite the good that comes out of this time of a global shutdown, a warning keeps growing louder. For what is at stake is not simply a couple of months of upheaval, but an assault on the values that make us human.
Values of human connection, affection, and freedom have been set aside without as much as a debate, when confronted by our most ancient enemy – the fear of death. This beautiful world we have been given is meant to be celebrated. We are meant to perceive the value in others and be drawn into friendship with them. But it seems an underlying suspicion is replacing our ability to celebrate creation and one another. The enforced wearing of masks continues to remind us of this newly created value – that connection with others is a risk and that the very air around us could kill us.
What is even more concerning is that there seems to be an intentional drive to change some of these values going forward. To even suggest a conversation on the logic of these measures is often met with incredulity and the accusation of being selfish for not considering the wellbeing of others. However, it could also be argued that those who fear the risk of infection so much that they would gladly take away the freedom of others are the selfish ones. But such a blaming game is not helpful to anyone. The point is that choosing what level of risk one is comfortable with, is a deeply personal decision and should not be enforced through ideologies.
Is the preservation of life not the ultimate value?! No, it’s not. Before the pandemic, each one of us took risks in living our daily lives. Many of those risks were much more likely to kill us than Covid-19, yet we considered a life worth living, worth the risk.
I don’t want to live a life dictated by the fear of death. There is beauty all around. People are amazing. Celebrating creation is, after all, a way of worshipping its Creator. And whenever I die, whether sooner or later, I want to enter that event with freedom, joy, and human affection, not fear and isolation.
So dear friends, as many in this world become reacquainted with the most ancient fear of death, lets continue to find creative ways of demonstrating what it looks like to be in relationship with the One who conquered death, and gave us the freedom to no longer live hostage to its fear. (Hebrews 2:14,15)
So very well described. God was in Christ seeking to reconcile us to Himself. The incarnation was God coming to enter our lives personally (not through Zoom video)! The law is taking away the personal for the sake of the physical. This will be more harmful in the long run than any physical or economic loss we may experience. Thank you for sharing this.
Thanks Bill. The incarnation is indeed such a powerful picture of God’s delight in life, such an affirmation that life is a divine gift that should be enjoyed, not hidden.
Beautifully constructed, non-judgmental heartfelt thoughts. It is a wind of fresh, pure essence that fills humanity’s atmosphere. Love one another. Papa God, is continually, without ceasing loving all. We are present and aware of our connectiveness to one another. Let us tune into the frequency of the Kingdom within, for there our true freedom resides. Fear not. Live life, fully. Love all, without exceptions. You, mankind are the GLORY! God’s Loving Opinion Regarding You! You are more than your experiences and circumstances. You are a creator, therefore create and be un- ashamed. Arise to your true identity!
Such an energy and joy in your words Daron. Thanks Daron
Absolutely! Truth! Totally lobsided FEAR based decisions … and we oblige like Muted Sheep!
Yes we are obligated to follow the rules. Our examples are to look at the persecution of believers around the world. They live life in confidence of the One who saved them and will continue to save them. This is salvation. Jesus rescues us from our minds, the gloom, dispare and agony we find ourselves in. It isn’t dependent on our happy circumstances. We depend on Jesus, not politics and live content in hin. This is what he came for ….to bring us life. May we live in this life, with eyes that see and ears that hear him, not how the world defines a happy life.
Thanks Truda
Spot on Andre! The debate that is raging here in the US is that it looks like this Covid flu is just a lil worse than the flu—more infectious but not much more deadly. Did we shut everything down during the last bad flu season? No! Did all business stop during the Spanish Flu and a world war? No! History has much to teach us for perspective. I believe bad actors (who don’t believe in an afterlife) are indeed using this for social and global control of the population. We must stand with Grace&Truth for others to see and take heart!
I have not seen the science and the statistics that compare the past influenzas, except for 1918 which killed 50 million world wide. This is not normal numbers to compare. There is reason to be alarmed. Sugar coating reality makes for great fantasy. He art and skill or politics telling people what they want to hear. This is exactly what the Bible did not do.
Hi Trevor. Good to hear from you. You touched on something that I discussed with Mary-Anne just before reading your post. It might seem that the belief in an afterlife is the reason why some don’t fear death, and that might be true for some. However, even if I did not believe in an afterlife, I would still prefer to live and die in freedom rather than extend my existence in a life not worth living.
Praises! From the depths of all creation my friend Andre. I was waiting for the words to come and share as I read Trevor’s thoughts that for me beheld something missing. I pray we loose on earth what exists in the heart of Abba. So glad for silence
Thanks Andre. Thanks Trevor
Thank you for sharing this. You put it in a perspective I’ve been yearning for but couldn’t express. God has to be saying this to so many of us without even hearing a human voice express it. Yes, something seems very wrong. Once we hear this expression voiced we know in the deepest parts of our hearts we really are hearing his voice clearly! Yes!! Life is worth the risk because we are loved. May I be able to share this with those I love because of the same love I have also received!
Thanks Joy. It is often difficult to find the words that express our intuitions – so glad it was helpful for you.
Andre,
Thank you for all that you and your wife mean to the Kingdom of God.
I appreciate your perspective here. My question relates to how this situation might correspond to situations in scripture where Paul speaks to the Corinthians about meat sacrificed to idols and laying down one’s “rights” for the sake of another’s conscience. I certainly have no desire to wear a mask forever or to refrain from close interaction with people and creation. However, for a the short-term (which might be a year or so), am I called to lay down my “rights” to enjoy creation the way I desire for the possible common good of others?
Per your thoughts, I don’t want to live with a resurrected fear of death either. But I find striking a balance in this situation can be difficult, at least for me.
Peace,
malone
Hi Malone and thanks for responding and the very pertinent question. Regarding the eating of meat offered to idols – these ritual practices went hand-in-hand with temple prostitution. Paul, therefore, argues that although there is nothing wrond with eating the meat, it might give the impression that one endorses all the other practices that accompanied it. So, yes, the heart of his argument is that although it might be permissible, it is not considerate or helpful to others.
Like yourself, I have also complied for the most part to whatever recommendations were made in the hope it is of benefit for others. Your desire to strike the right balance is what I and many others desire. That balance, it seems to me, is completely absent at the moment.
Beautiful insight on the bigger picture. I will not die alone or isolated, or in fear. That’s not living.
To live within Love’s expression for all! Now let us dance in that together my dear friend Bess.
“Unintended consequences” how true this is. The domino effect is already in progress with it’s Darwinian & Newtonian “survival of the fittest” agenda. “Man’s chief delusion is his conviction that there are causes other than his own state of consciousness.” I have felt the exact comments and words that others have replied to you Andre! This long term solution has resonated in my heart as this is wrong! This fear that is being propagated by certain world systems and institutions will be a major testimony to our demise if we don’t wakeup! So good to hear from you and others replies. Love will conquer in our divine perception of connection and sacred oneness!
So good to hear from you George, and suddenly I’m aware of our sacred oneness. Hope to see you when we visit Canada again.
I have not seen the science and the statistics that compare the past influenzas, except for 1918 which killed 50 million world wide. This is not normal numbers to compare. There is reason to be alarmed. Sugar coating reality makes for great fantasy. He art and skill or politics telling people what they want to hear. This is exactly what the Bible did not do.
To enjoy the goodness of creation and be drawn by its beauty into adventurous living, is a risk worth taking. For what is at stake is not simply a couple of months of upheaval, but an assault on the values that make us human.
Values of human connection, affection, and freedom have been set aside without as much as a debate, when confronted by our most ancient enemy – the fear of death. This beautiful world we have been given is meant to be celebrated. We are meant to perceive the value in others and be drawn into friendship with them.
Perhaps it is more about what will be the new understanding of community and how that new understanding is lived out in day to day realities. Maybe it’s an invitation to go higher in consciousness to find connection with nature, humanity and consciousness itself. Perhaps, like death, Jesus and ours, it is not the end game but a new chapter in human growth and consciousness beyond the duality of this time and space reality. Is it all meant to expand our horizons and connect on a different plane? Genesis knows.
That’s so awesome, lets live life as intended with no fear. and no internal mask ,,great words Andre
Thank you Andre, truth spoken courageously and expressed beautifully. Interesting also to observe the fear of death beginning to compete with the worship (or fear of the lack) of money as we see the economic impact of lockdown worldwide. What an opportunity to imagine and create a new ‘kingdom’ or way of being which is subject to neither. Thanks again my friend.
Indeed. And when fear is absent our imaginations are free to find new possibilities.