Things Are Not As They Seem
There were no bats at the seafood market in Wuhan – and the bats in question don’t live anywhere near Wuhan. With coronavirus, as with life, things are not as they seem. Read my thoughts in this week’s edition of “Isn’t That Ironic?”.
Every expert seems to have a different opinion about the origin and prognosis of Covid-19. We are told it came from bats at a seafood market in Wuhan. Yet, apparently, there were no bats sold at that market. And the bats in question don’t live anywhere within 600 km of Wuhan. On the other hand, within a few blocks of the seafood market is China’s leading virus research facility. Interesting. Things are not what they seem.
Every country has taken a slightly different approach to dealing with Covid-19. Taiwan seems to have handled it the best. Although, since China won’t recognize Taiwan, the WHO won’t either and we don’t hear much about them. Taiwan seems to be a real country with real people, but according to the world’s leading authorities, apparently not. I wonder, when should we listen to the world’s leading authorities and when shouldn’t we? Things are not what they seem.
In most of the world, normal life has almost come to a standstill. In Taiwan and Sweden, normal life pretty much goes on. So far the Covid-19 stats aren’t much different. Time will tell. The authorities talk about controlling the coronavirus. But viruses don’t listen to politicians. It’s really about controlling people. Things are not what they seem.
So it is with our spirits. Things are not what they seem. We seem to be physical beings. We’re really spiritual beings. People seem to die. Really, we just leave our mortal shells and return to “who we really are” and where we really came from. On the one hand, it’s tragic that people die of Covid-19, or any cause. On the other hand, without being callous we can recognize that all of us will die. Today, tomorrow, next week, next year. We don’t know. We have this moment. Nothing more is promised.
On a spiritual level, our problems are not really about controlling people, or controlling viruses, or controlling anything outside ourselves. It’s about living each moment in love and constantly being ready to take the next step on our eternal journey.
We can turn to fear - or we can turn to love.
The coronavirus has spread much more fear than it has spread death. I don’t know what is the best medical response to this pandemic. But I know the best spiritual response is not fear. It’s love. Fear and love are opposites. St. John said, “Perfect love casts out fear,” (1 Jn 4:18). This virus will likely touch every person in the world. Someone close to you will be taken from this physical world by this virus. But that should not cause us to fear—but to love. Make sure you love everyone while they’re here—right now. We never know how long that will last. Don’t fear death—for yourself or for others. Don’t fear anything. Love everything. At all moments, we can turn to fear or we can turn to love.
However things turn out, we can know for sure, that things are not what they seem.
God Bless You!
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