Our lives have changed, possibly forever, in many ways. This raises many questions.
For example, questions regarding the past: Where did the Corona Virus originate? Who is to blame? Or to the future: What will happen to me, to my family? What will happen to humanity as a whole?
These questions are understandable. But they do not yet free us from our fears and our resistance. If we could answer the questions we ask of the past, nothing would change in the current situation. And with the questions we ask of the future, the course of events will eventually reveal possible answers to us.
There is the well-known adage: “Every cloud has a silver lining.” In every crisis there is an opportunity. By this token, a huge crisis can make for a great opportunity.
Let us consider the current situation from the perspective of one walking a spiritual path. Just about everybody experiences how their reality is being shaken, by little things – or by vastly significant ones.
If we manage to accept a situation unconditionally – not just the current one, but whatever life has in stock for us – as it is, we can change something about ourselves. We recognize our fears as parts of our very being, eventually accepting them. We consider our wishes and ideas, our previous lifestyle, that are also part of ourselves. Many things, we realize, that we previously thought to be of utmost importance, are suddenly no longer possible. Our self-image might begin to falter.
A new view of life becomes possible
What does this entail? Peace can enter as well as inner silence. A new view of life becomes possible. Everything may be lost; even our very life may come to an end sooner than most of us would like.
If we accept this, we acquire a certain distance and enter a quieter place, so to speak. We can start to delve into the innermost part of our being (a little practice is required). We probably won’t succeed right away, but we can prepare ourselves by reading a suitable text, perhaps a good poem, or by listening to contemplative music. Then it may become quiet within us.
What is it that might become apparent in such a meditative state? What is it that might emerge from the depth of our inner being? Let us free ourselves of our expectations. At first, we experience only darkness, possibly followed by a jumble of thoughts and sensations. Let them pass and fade away. Let us direct our attention to something deeper, to something we do not yet know.
From the inner silence rises what we call consciousness. It is like a star in the darkness. It spreads a kind of light, the light of consciousness. You become aware of your existence. Let this work within you.
Consciousness has a source. We approach it on a spiritual path. And in doing so, we can make a tremendous discovery: The source that is in me flows together with the source of consciousness in other people.
There is one universal source of consciousness for everyone. In it, our innermost being touches the innermost being of every other person.
We are more deeply connected than we ever thought possible. There is, in the background of our existence, a single, all-encompassing consciousness. And out of it everyone receives their own consciousness, in every moment.
And furthermore, we share a single, all-encompassing life. And from it, each one receives, in every moment, his own life.
As this discovery seeps into us, we start viewing ourselves and each other very differently, realizing that, on a very deep, fundamental level, we are literally brothers and sisters.
Indeed, the great crisis can actually help us to have the greatest inner experience possible.
