Levels of Reality ...

One of the delusions developed along the parallel universe of the Camino, glimpsing the political pantomimes from the unlikely leader of the free world, the DUK EU fiasco and other stories on televisions in the bars where coffee, rest and writing of the blog took place, was that all the world is indeed a stage and that Cosmic Screenwriters were having a grand time ramping up the credulity levels ... in order to further relax your discriminating mind in its search for some pattern which may resonate for a while, let's call it Fantasy Fiction ...

Fine ... so a simple reality, shared with other animals, is to be in Nature as Nature, eating, excreting, fighting or fleeing, reproducing ... communication is without words, yet there is communication ... then language evolves and humans become of aware of a self separate from each other and separate from Nature, the Unity, where everything connects with everything else, beautifully modelled in Indra's Net and received as revelation some years ago, a few hours into a walk over the fells, when thinking stopped briefly ...

Story-telling reality appears with the separation and languages. It takes a while to evolve from oral transmission to written, by which time stories have become myths and taken on a life of their own. Told and retold, written and edited, story tellers and powerful humans develop all sorts of fascinating realities ... social pressure, hypnotic techniques, praise and punishment, all embed the truth of the stories ... until folks arrive from a different culture, with different stories and different realities. Culture clash awakens some to question whether either reality has substance, but mostly is resolved with the more powerful reality imposing itself, often brutally. More insidiously this mechanism continues ... as knowledge increases, consensus reality appears to settle for a while, but changes subtly with pluralistic realities entertained, confirmation bias builds a worldview until the story becomes untenable and a new one emerges ...

Meanwhile, Jude Currivan, eminently qualified physicist, cosmologist, archaeologist proposes an expanding universe with all the information in two dimensions at the edge, projected holographically to produce the world ... worth a look, very entertaining and holding her views lightly and seriously simultaneously. ..

This current fast breaking story, told in various forms across the interconnected world, mainstream version based on fear which brings humans with roles into play in fear of failure mode ... never a good look ... old genres of war not helping ... misguided attempt to achieve immortality in this incarnation comes to a head, death "toll" statistics reeled off as if they know, though underlying illnesses will take the credit if this one was not available. If half a million people pass on this year in UK and current deaths account for less than 800, without any way to know how many of those would have died of something else sooner rather than later ... how is all the misery engendered by isolation justifiable?

Not normally a fan of the House of Lords,  but the retired Chief Justice, philosopher, author,  Lord Sumption goes on air to lambast the slide to despotism ... not from above as much as demanded by a frightened population.

Sun shines on and off, health promoting vitamin D freely available, government sanctioned, police enforced, citizen encouraged house arrest is enforced ... for those willing to submit ...

Observing without Judgement ...

Nothing like an international crisis to practice the art of observing without judgement, and social media, specifically FB since it's the only one used here, is full of opportunities to react to triggers, comment on fast moving issues from a conditioned mind ... just more so ... or, for a change, take a longer look at the ranting, calm down, examine anything which piques interest, discard traditional loyalties to political, religious or any species of leader (influencer became an opinion maker or leader a while ago), and sit with whatever arises. After all, there is plenty of time for many of us.

After a very wet February, March offers some Sun, just as official advice becomes instruction to stay at home and not every home has a garden, cities being where the real suffering lies ... one authorised escape from house arrest is for exercise, though so far the length of time is not specified ... essential shopping also allowed ... shops deemed not essential instructed to close ... the narrative is very compelling, with a compliant population primed for a fear response, ready, willing and able to follow orders, point fingers, inform on neighbours ... we have been here before ...

Meanwhile, opportunities abound and local initiatives spring up to supply the elderly and vulnerable with food, medicine and some social, though not physical contact. Self-isolation becomes a life saving strategy at the same time as being a cruel and unusual punishment ... some elders prefer to take their chances, since death is inevitable and quite likely within a year or so, with or without this particular virus ... still, the established scientific orthodoxy holds sway, DUK PM picks up his long awaited Churchill role, moderates his normal narcissism, defers to chief medical and chief scientific leaders, one of whom has senior experience with pharmaceutical company GSK, pointing to the inexorable journey to a vaccine ready, waiting and mandatory at the end of the drama ...

The human immune system, meanwhile, is undermined by the fear response ubiquitous around the world ... stress long recognised as a prime cause, whilst decades of degraded diets, application of chemical pollutants as sunscreen, anti-perspirant, perfume, premature medical intervention to suppress symptoms whilst the natural defence mechanism is getting into gear, the drastic regime of household hyper-hygiene, bleached, sprayed, killing all known germs ... an unannounced war on Nature, as if we were separate from it ... all telling our precious immune system it's not needed ...

Folk wisdom holds that a healthy body needs some dirt to operate ... we just don't have an instruction manual for how much and what sort ... our instincts are sacrificed to experts selling us stuff we don't need or positively poisonous ... an hypnotised populace addicted to consumption ... this strange time when we have a chance to sit back and see what a healthy life and economy looks like ... unless you are a carer, nurse, doctor or other key soldier in the war against the virus.

Pandemic Paradoxes

Language offers a clue to the fantastic spread of the current crisis around the world ... quite clearly in the word pandemic is the panic infecting the interconnected people, led by governments, media and medical experts, all finding their roles in the drama ... and despite more measured voices about the likely effects, fear at every level creates conditions for economic meltdown, conspiracy theories abound and the situation offers everybody a chance to have an opinion and crucially to choose whether to play the best version of themselves or the worst ... maybe ...

Looking a little closer, bearing in mind that each of us, being at the centre of our world, seeing things not as they are but as we are, stepping back with a calm, though not completely quiet, mind, we might observe this crisis playing out with some logic, given the erroneous start point ... as proposed by an eminent German virologist (source please), who describes the nature of a virus, as a living entity, depending for its existence on a host, in this case human, though many mutate via other animals ... dropping for now the unhelpful wartime rhetoric of the enemy virus, and accepting they live among us and within us without malign intent ... this particular  mutation, not especially more dangerous than any other version, which annually sets off the pneumonia that enables the death of  thousands of people with compromised immune systems ... usually without much comment, though previous  ones have caused some consternation ... this one, isolated in a research laboratory in Wuhan, somehow caught the attention of the World Health Organisation, or rather their attention leaked out to set off the chain of panic prepared by the increased connectivity of the world ... deaths, not significantly greater than other years, became death tolls, people with job descriptions and possible adverse consequences of being perceived as acting outside of accepted norms leapt into action and continue to leap ...

The ducks on the river, the birds in the trees seem unaware of all the trouble ... wild garlic is so abundant it becomes a healthy, tasty pesto and a soup, both possibly helpful for self-distancing as well as immune system boosting ... along with the fresh air and exercise deluded advisors recommend vulnerable folks avoid ... indeed in other countries police enforce house arrest ... even in normally revolting France ... how easily we give up our freedom ...

Meanwhile, since everything works at every level, the Earth itself, has its immune system compromised, mainly since the industrial revolution, with the planet itself choking, its resources running out, its lungs or forests reduced drastically ... and Gaia is not yet ready to die ... her existence is dependent on the Sun, which has some billions of years of heat and light left ...

On the plus side, optimistic motorists await the 30% fall in oil prices finding its way to petrol pumps, pollution levels internationally, not least in Wuhan, fall massively ... the degrowth economy appears in the crisis and perhaps provides the respite Gaia requires ... or maybe gives humans a chance to survive a little longer, since Gaia may cope better without us ...

Who Dies?

Recent reading includes Stephen Levine's fascinating exploration of death and dying from 1982, still feeling contemporary today and especially relevant in the midst of the international flu pandemic causing extreme reactions by governments like Italy, now basically closed down ... other countries weigh up similar actions in this interconnected world ... main message being self-isolation at the first signs of the new virus - dry cough, fever, breathing difficulties ... and how to discern when such symptoms are common cold, other flu and so on ... seen as an opportunity by overstressed folks grateful for an unexpected rest from the daily grind, as long as full wages are paid ... though large corporations in hard hit sectors such as aviation invite staff to volunteer for unpaid leave ... already unwillingly isolated folks, especially elderly, more likely to be less gung-ho at the prospect ...

Meanwhile, in Weardale, two minibuses set off full of elderly folks for some assisted shopping in Durham at the quieter than usual retail park ... without any signs of panic, and conversations generally philosophical and phlegmatic at the prospect of the latest virus finishing them off ... in some cases the quotidian loneliness a less preferred option ... and deeper conversations uncover culturally unexpected beliefs in karma and reincarnation, loosely held perhaps, but comforting nevertheless ... Levine's book develops the theme, exploring the essential question of ego and its false nature ... whilst a snippet from a Radio 4 mini-documentary about life amongst underprivileged teenagers in Warrington explores the craze for dangerous riding of unlicensed motor bikes around the streets, often recorded for fame on social media, a validation that the otherwise unsuccessful youngster is actually recognised as good at something by the sub-culture if not mainstream society ... an ongoing theme seen half a century ago when a young, naive, newly qualified but disenchanted teacher from the sticks found employment in an adventure playground in an estate off the Caledonian Road behind Kings Cross station in London ... health and safety was less developed in those days of libertarianism, dawning of the Age of Aquarius and all that ...  a window opened for children's rights, the scurrilous Little Red Schoolbook hit the streets and sparked school strikes and raised consciousness, before being banned as obscene as well as revolutionary ... several boxes were rescued from the publisher before the book burning began, courtesy of Portuguese emigre red and best friend at teacher training college ... who appears elsewhere in the story when the Carnation Revolution kicked off and a trip to cheer the rebels on was undertaken with Pedro along with enthusiastic young people from around the world ... back in the children's play part, this playground was basically a fenced off cobbled bit of road between tower blocks and a village of post-war prefabs, much loved by the tenants and due for demolition ... the structures were built by the children with the support of the two paid staff and the donation of  wood and other scrap, plus a lorry load of scaffolding ... the beauty of the system was its ever changing nature, as the children built and demolished as they wanted ... a warming bonfire was usually burning ... children seeking sympathetic adult attention had two to choose from, and those unable to cope with the discipline of school had an informal option ... not easy work but rewarding ... and amazingly nobody was killed, whether through luck, fate or just because the children knew how dangerous it was who knows?

Language casts its spell and once Health and Safety becomes a thing, with departments of government as well as businesses employing people who may be held responsible if something goes wrong ... litigation may follow and all the unexpected consequences of diminishing personal responsibility sprout unchecked ... promotion of Illness and Danger is clearly not an option and so, for perfectly good reasons, freedom wanes ... back in virus land the search is on for a vaccine, to go alongside the current flu jab widely promoted though not supported here and time and energy to research the data is lacking when exercise and fresh air in the sunshine awaits ...

Looping back to the reformed wheelie biker of Warrington, he reveals that despite having few financial resources, he spends  £950 on a pair of trainers in some deluded attempt to find meaning in his life ... perhaps only different in scale to wealthy folks spending thousands on a watch or a handbag ... and a related thought arises that smart phones and the cost of operation appear ubiquitous around the world. .. is any of this really real?

As for a Spring Adventure, plans have been made and expectations, being the root of disappointment, not held ... whatever the consequences  of going or being grounded, what can't be controlled is best allowed .... in this deluded reality its all dramas and we are not to know them or their purpose prior ... how we tell them later is up to us ... or the fragment of the whole this bundle of roles and memories carries around, preferably lightly ... when that dies, as it must, the show goes on, it seems ... how the learning of one brief life is carried on yet to be revealed ...

Light returning ...

After a very wet February with some snow to brighten the fells, March arrives with warm Sun and longer days, leading to decisive action for a Spring adventure ... Easter ferry to Brittany, a few days with younger sister, then a wander south and west ...

All that necessary planning, not including any restricting return date, leaves a month to visit younger daughter yesterday ... a very busy sunny Sunday at the coast, virus panic notwithstanding ... Geordies possibly playing up to their stereotypical insousiance ... eateries thronging with people and space finally found at the Buddha Lounge for good food and ambience, though it turns out the Buddha images are only for style and without any overt spiritual message ... maybe conversion by stealth, since the various forms generally invoke peace ... indeed this once Christian country almost certainly exhibits more images of the enlightened one than his suffering counterpart ... though since the core messages are the same it may be a sign that folks prefer peace over pain, at least in their gardens or on their mantelpieces ... other religions eschew such imagery as blasphemous ... organised religion mostly tailing off in wealthier nations as mammon mostly meets material needs ... existential angst lingers, of course, and this secular state has many wild and wonderful forms with which to shape spiritual exploration, often with costumes and stories ready made, plus a fellowship to confirm our common views ... and gurus ...

A short road trip to visit absconding elder daughter and dear friend, both recently relocated to different parts of the Scottish Borders, some days woodland working at Land of Joy, and a couple more minibus trips with any local elders willing to step outside and risk the new flu ... a worldwide event apparently about to trigger the overdue economic recession and minds being prepared to accept behaviour changes otherwise unthinkable ... in Lombardy several million residents are put in quarantine, though wandering tourists are not ... and they, presumably, will require all the services of the tourist economy ... some bizarre contradictions arise as authorities struggle to contain the epidemic ... meanwhile, friends with pre-existing medical conditions or elderly are not reassured that folks with robust immune systems will be fine ... neighbours having recently returned from Malaysia advised to self-isolate by their employers, less through concern for employees than fear of litigation in case of culpable infection of customers ... cashless economy promoted in the name of contaminated coins and notes with a huge benefit to governments wishing to clean up the black economy and increase the tax take ... cynics might suggest governments at international scale are conditioning folks to follow orders in the name of public safety ... conspiracy theorists go further, bio-terrorism, state sponsored or otherwise, suggested ... and of course conspiracy theories are not false by definition ...

In the woods wild garlic provides the first forage food of the year, just as the last of Autumn's blackberries are eaten ... wonderful Sun on the fells and briefly a rainbow before return to the street for some conversation ... whilst a message of encouragement arrives for the book of the blog ... whether the inspiration appears in the month left for such an endeavour. .. let's see!