Read on Twitter
I get the strong desire to return to normal life now. I, too, want so badly to go out and do something fun & normal.
But every spiritual tradition teaches about mastering desire for a reason. What you want & what you need—or others need of you—aren’t always the same thing. 1/x
But every spiritual tradition teaches about mastering desire for a reason. What you want & what you need—or others need of you—aren’t always the same thing. 1/x
Often it’s about working to be more aligned with divine service, or towards alleviating suffering.
Now, it is both of those things, but in the highest-stakes, most literal way: if you give in to your desire to pretend we are in a post-COVID world, people will die.
Now, it is both of those things, but in the highest-stakes, most literal way: if you give in to your desire to pretend we are in a post-COVID world, people will die.
Our desires are natural and understandable. We can have compassion for them. We can be empathetic to the parts of us that feel like, my goodness, these last few months have been long and hard and maybe lonely and exhausting and we just. Want. Some. Respite.
Yes, lonely, exhausted part of us. We see you. You just want out.
But the stakes are too high to let that part be in the driver’s seat now.
We have to, gently, like a parent showing a kid appropriate boundaries, hear that part of us without letting it make decisions for us.
But the stakes are too high to let that part be in the driver’s seat now.
We have to, gently, like a parent showing a kid appropriate boundaries, hear that part of us without letting it make decisions for us.
There is still a deadly, highly transmissible disease with no good treatment and no vaccination out there.
More than 1.5 million people in the US have it. More than 100,000 have died so far—and those numbers only represent the small percentage of cases that have been tested.
More than 1.5 million people in the US have it. More than 100,000 have died so far—and those numbers only represent the small percentage of cases that have been tested.
Nasty rightwing slogan notwithstanding, this disease really doesn’t care about your feelings.
And a rush to return to “normal” (either because your state is reopening some or just because it’s summer now and you wanna) is going to be a death sentence for a lot of people.
And a rush to return to “normal” (either because your state is reopening some or just because it’s summer now and you wanna) is going to be a death sentence for a lot of people.
Maybe for you.
Maybe for someone you love.
Maybe for a stranger you don’t know but whose life matters every bit as much as yours does. And whose life matters considerably more than your fun, carefree weekend does.
Maybe for someone you love.
Maybe for a stranger you don’t know but whose life matters every bit as much as yours does. And whose life matters considerably more than your fun, carefree weekend does.
Yes, we’re all in survival mode but it’s also an opportunity for spiritual growth. For looking at our urges to throw caution to the wind, for sitting with them with generosity, compassion, curiosity, and trying to find the holy sparks we can release from them.
Do you need time to mourn?
Do you need an activist place to put your energy, to work for something good?
Are there less risky ways you can get yourself some sunshine, a beer, some joyful music, a socially distanced walk with someone you can laugh with?
Do you need an activist place to put your energy, to work for something good?
Are there less risky ways you can get yourself some sunshine, a beer, some joyful music, a socially distanced walk with someone you can laugh with?
You are not your feelings.
You are not your desires.
Listen to them, make space for them, but do not let yourself be driven by them. Make choices that come from a place of caring for others, for understanding that your actions have consequences.
What you choose matters.
You are not your desires.
Listen to them, make space for them, but do not let yourself be driven by them. Make choices that come from a place of caring for others, for understanding that your actions have consequences.
What you choose matters.
