Is the Pandemic a Unique Moment of Pivot?
My thoughts and feelings during the pandemic.
A snapshot is
Will the universality of the pandemic experience shift individual and collective consciousness and manifest as a change in systems?
Is making and doing the new thinking?
Our family has been part of the plastic free movement since 2016 and we have witnesssed the power of awareness, personal accountability and collective action coalesce into a new, values-led narrative that blends well with other climate, ecological, social, economic and political narratives that are, we think and hope, leading to a shift in the Overton window. I observe signs that this shift is steering political reputations and choices in a way that offers some hope for our planet. Our elder son Oli has written a thesis on Bridging the Gap Between Individual and Collective Action in the context of Environmental Degradation. A social phenomenon is envisaged where our connected world enables groups to coalesce as empowered entities that precipitate Mass Individual Action, Mass Individual Coordinated Action and Mass Individual Targeted Action. The subsequent power of numbers allows for the compassionate deconstruction of polluting industries and companies as their board rooms, AGMs and markets are subject to a new form of ‘boycott’ as the consumer shifts to citizen. Simply put, your purchase is a vote. En masse, such groups may have the scale that was lacking prior to the active global social media membrane, which some thinkers liken to an emergent consciousness, being in place. Our thinking about this has preoccupied us for a number of years and seems to be more relevant now as personal accountability and interdependence emerge as topics of relevance in the pandemic.
My personal experience in being a proactive participant in an environmental movement has offered the opportunity to develop a sense of agency in place of hopelessness - a valuable thread in how one responds to climate anxiety. We made a sudden decision to switch to lower impact living and, in my case, it did not happen without context.
As a young boy, I grew up unsure was to why the adults I saw as role models were actually going to work. Why did millions of people go to desks daily, travel on planes to meetings, get excited about selling stuff and ultimately build and celebrate companies that produced goods of, in my eyes, little merit. It seemed to be a dehumanising endeavour that misunderstood how progress might be defined. On a number of occasions, I asked the naive questions about why people were dedicating such time and resource in pursuit of stuff I didn’t understand and cannot recall many convincing answers. It formed a perfect platform for undermining any sense I could make of why I was being taught at school in the way I was and where I might fit in the world of work.
My revelatory moment came when I met my wiffe, Claudi, from a relatively alternative German family background that includes living in intentional communities and questioning prevailing norms. Subsequently, we bridged convention and unorthodoxy by working in relatively conventional spheres whilst pursuing an alternative way to life through educational choices and voluntary causes.
What am I attempting to communicate here? Is the pandemic a unique moment of pivot? As the world debates whether old or new paradigm thinking and activity will emerge on the back of this journey, I hope and pray that the connectedness and humane generosity that lies within all of us can emerge as a force for good and, supported by systems thinking and other enlightened outlooks, can reset the power balance. An emergent consciousness befitting of an Awuarian age.
Time and time again, I have seen the esoteric and alternative thinkers at the leading edge of the bell curve have an almost prophetic capability that over time seeds improvement in sectors such as medicine, food and agriculture, ecology and education.
The unique ubiquity and scale of the pandemic and its spiritual and psychological impacts will, I hope, reset a values led revolution in priorities that, powered by people, offers an overwhelming force for good. Optimistic idealism or credible opportunity? As ever, travel in hope. As we emerge from this I will continue to do things that provide me with agency in the situation and align them as best I can to the common good.
Closer to home, as a ‘melancholic optimist’ I know I am not alone in being susceptible to feelings of guilt as we benefit from the relative comfort of our situation and the enforced ‘idle’ the we are encountering. Contrasting this to the enormous risk, sacrifice and suffering being experienced by others is perfect fodder for a solar plexus level reaction of remorse. This, combined with the incessant drip feed of statistics, anecdotes and general news, has the power to drown out constructive thought. My response has been to assert my ‘locus of control’ by making things out of wood and joining the explosion in home improvement, make and mend and creative pursuit that seems to be proliferating. Then, sitting with a glass of beer in the evening and pondering our work, the sadness and grief that is part of this time mixes with a sense of wellbeing in a ‘schizophrenic’ cocktail of reflection. Distraction in the form of movie nights and group video calls blend in as a new normal. Unusual times. A friend has a personal philosophy of mining each and every life situation for the gold it offers and I love this impulse. Doing, being, thinking, feeling; all of them are altered just at the moment. Gratitude will help and so will reaching out to support others - having written this piece I will now do both of those more.
Traveller there is no path, the path is made by walking.