At the time of writing this, South Africa is currently in a state of emergency, and in the midst of a 21-day national lockdown, as is with the majority of countries around the world. The recent coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic has gripped the world as we know it in intense, paralyzing fear. The epidemic has forced people to face themselves, to question who they are, and what substance their lives contain in the face of detachment from the outside world. Reckless living can no longer continue as humans are confronted with the reality of their own mortality on a daily basis. Without the distractions from the outside world, many people seem to be mourning the meaninglessness of their own existence.
Our efforts at complete dominance over the planet have been erased by nature. We chose to destroy and dominate rather than to share and nature has struck back emphasizing that there is no such thing as the absence of consequences to our actions which have unfortunately accumulated into the manifestation of this very outcome. COVID-19 is the cry of a bleeding world to which we must respond with rapid transformation that begins at an individual level.
“What he has done, he can undo. None other than himself was the instigator of the causes of whatever effects are now prevalent in his life. He can overcome any limitation, because he created it by his own actions in the first place….” - Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi
Karma is essentially, cause and effect, an inevitable consequence of our actions scientifically proven by Newton’s Third Law of Action and Reaction. It is a law that continues to operate without the sanction of human belief and herein lies its truthfulness. However, as stated above by Yogananda we are not necessarily doomed to the ill fate brought upon by our past (and possibly ignorant) actions. As creators of our present reality we can consciously create a new reality through the blessing of CHOICE. The same power that has created the tragedy in which we now find ourselves is the same power that can be harnessed to use the present challenge to ignite positive change. By resisting the urge to revert to old destructive ways of living and being, humanity is bound to emerge more aware, more loving with a renewed sense of respect for the planet and a phenomenal sense of gratitude for our lives.
Globally thousands of people have joined in mass meditations for the purpose of healing among other combined efforts to remedy the situation as a collective consciousness. I am reminded of the words of Dr John Demartini in which he states, ‘wisdom is the instant recognition that crisis is a blessing.’ People have come together and united in a way that has rarely been encountered, there no longer seems to be any division of race, creed or culture as people unite to initiate the healing of our world. While there is grief from death, there is also the promise of new life.
“I dream of the realization of the unity of Africa, whereby its leaders combine in their efforts to solve the problems of this continent. I dream of our vast deserts, of our forests, of all our great wildernesses” - Nelson Mandela
COVID-19 has been fearfully perceived as a death sentence for the majority, yet choosing to see it as a birthing process has given rise to hope within many. This same principle can be applied to our daily lives, when challenges seem insurmountable and pain seems unbearable, choosing to see the blessing within the tragedy and accepting the pain as a form of cleansing from that which no longer serves, enables us to be grateful for the blessings that exist within every challenge and the victory of positive transformation that triumphs at the end of a perceived tragedy. Gratitude is an act of submission to the blessings within the tragedy empowering positive change, rather than a resistance against circumstances which according to Abraham Hicks, “only creates more of what is.”
