A Pause—Contemplating the new coronavirus

by Michael Ketterhagen

I have been focusing on the nine contemplative practices of the Yoga Tradition that are necessary for us to live a peaceful, just, healthy life that would lead us to union with God, our ultimate goal.

I would like to take a pause by contemplating the new coronavirus, its impact on our society and the opportunities that it has to offer humanity on the Earth.

What are the benefits of this fast-moving little virus? According to the Vedic Tradition which is the basis of the Yoga Tradition’s understanding of reality, all life flows from the compassion of the Source of Life, the Creator of Life; namely, our Divine Mother. All the activity and movement of life follows the Divine Mother’s Laws of Nature. The Holy Spirit is Christianity’s personification of this movement of the Divine in the world and, therefore, is involved in this world of coronavirus.

According to these and other spiritual traditions, the coronavirus is the fruit of our human activity in the world and has a purpose of teaching us lessons that are important for the destiny of the human race and all the creatures on the Earth. Some people might see it as a punishment for something that humans have done, but that is missing the deeper understanding of the Laws of Nature.

According to the Laws of Nature, everything in nature is the offspring of the human activity, freely permitted by the Beautiful Divine Mother, the loving creator of reality. Also, each and every action, thought, intention of life has a consequence. Through the years, people have called those consequences different things, such as karma, the results of sin, natural law, the work of the Holy Spirit or the devil’s activity. Whatever the results of life’s activities are called, they are natural fruits of the actions of life and can serve the purpose of teaching us which human actions are beneficial and which are harmful.

So, what has the new coronavirus taught us?

You might reflect on this personally and come up with your own list. I would like to share some of my reflections.

I have learned that this virus has slowed me down. This slowing down of my life has given me more time to reflect on my personal, spiritual growth has taught me much about myself on my journey to union with God. It has taught me about the changes I want to make in my life.

I also have learned that all humans, no matter how different from each other and not matter how distant we may seem to be from each other, are interconnected in very subtle and powerful ways. We all breathe the same air even though that air might not impact us in the same way.

I am now keenly aware that our current institutions; namely, medical, educational, nursing home, food distribution systems, farming, etc., are not serving most humans very well. Even the political institutions after a brief sense of unity are now fighting with each other again for personal and private gain instead of public welfare. Many of these institutions now are showing their preference for certain people of different races and cultures rather than all people.

This virus has also challenged and controlled the relevance of religious group worship.

I also have “discovered” the presence and impact of my neighbors, my wife, my children and grandchildren on my life. Our emergency workers, our truck drivers, and all other humans who were just cogs in the wheel of society are now much more important to me.

Air pollution has decreased with this virus. I have become convinced that driving vehicles as much as we did is not good for our planet and our lives.

I have learned much from this new virus. Now I want to live in a way that will change the ways I and our society lives. I will change some of my dysfunctional ways into ways that will grow a new, loving, equitable, peaceful and healthy society on our planet Earth.

What have you learned from this new coronavirus and its activity in our world?

Namaste’