Where did the coronavirus come from? What is our responsibility towards the plant, animal and inanimate world? How could better care of these elements of the environment serve them and us better? This appreciative inquiry from a moral and scientific point of view might bode well for the general welfare or all beings animate and inanimate.
It has become well understood that we are interconnected with all elements of the environment, but we don’t seem to adopt a lifestyle that follows what we rationally know about these connections. We continue to destroy the forest and oceans’ vegetation that provides most of our oxygen. We slaughter animals for consumption that are fed growth hormones, have a high acidic nutritional content, and maybe the source of many virulent viruses for humans. We pollute our water resources with fracking and oil spills. To cap off this irrational behavior we pollute the air we breath with uncapped carbon emissions. As one French scientist put it, “We are drowning in our own waste.” We choose competition for inequitable economic gains over choices for a healthier more cooperative life that honors humans, plants, animals and the inanimate world. The so-called inanimate world consists of the chemical elements of the living cells of our biological being, the calcium of our bones, the iron in our blood, the oxygen we breath. The self that we inhabit is an extension of all these elements of the environment.
Throw in the pandemic and its time to scream “Overload!” But, enough of the problem. What can individuals do to combat the stress of it all in their smaller circle?
Your small circle is a microcosm of the big macrocosmic circle. My spiritual mentor after telling me to, “Do something great for the suffering humanity,” sees how overwhelmed I am with this request and holds his right thumb and forefinger close together and tells me that “Something small can be great.” Then he leans forward toward me with his thumb and forefinger and pushes the corners of my mouth up saying, “Smile a little.” (This was long before the pandemic demand for social distancing.)
So, the question is what can we do concretely to serve all beings in this time of crisis and beyond?
Dr. Sid Jordan (Acarya Vishvamitra)