Philosophical Consolations during a Pandemic
All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,
All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,
But nearness to death no nearer to GOD.
So lamented T.S. Eliot, in the last century, in Choruses from the Rock.
Ever since the breakout of the pandemic in 2020, we have been putting all our technological knowledge to react to the panic. Our scientists and entrepreneurs have reacted with electronic gadgets, medicines, etc. Our policymakers have taken measures to control and eliminate. The virus has become an invisible enemy. By this, the virus has become the first ‘common enemy’ in the entire history of mankind.
How does philosophy offer consolatory advise to the poor, rich, migrants who are affected directly by the pandemic or their wealth and livelihood eroded by the consequences? How does it guide the leaders and the wise, who are fighting the virus and their territories and mistakes? How will philosophy help man to become better adapted to the next panic?
As panic strikes the primitive man and the living beings, they are designed to produce more adrenalin and run away from the danger. What if the danger is invisible and the situation is dark? Where do we run, towards or away? When it is unknown and invisible, the best strategy is defence and the tactic is to lie low and still.
It is prudent to be still, lie low to gain time either to plan escape, defend and attack later. Panic creates noise and inadvertently shows our position to danger. However, there is a caution. Prolonged lie low defeats the purpose as swiftness as it affects other aspects of living. Hence there is a drawing line. It may be soon for the danger to be aware of our position.
Next, philosophy advises us to seek and love knowledge. Technology differs because it advises us to exploit and possess knowledge and its embodiment. Philosophy advises us to find out all the means to know and react to the pandemic. It will be surprising to note that there are very few innovative means to react. Compare this with the millions of opinions flooded in the social media for an obvious fact. Why is knowledge homogenised and there is no diversity of opinions and actions?
Circa 300 B.C. After the Kalinga war, the Emperor Ashoka visited the field of battle. From the vantage point of Dhauli Hills, he saw the devastation. Thousands of dead bodies, amputated legs and hands, severed heads lay strewn across the region till the bank of the river Daya. The sight horrified him. Estimates put the figure at three hundred thousand. It is almost equal to the pandemic deaths. He imagined the death cries echoing across the hills. He could also imagine the cries back in the city, towns and villages — the cries of the young widows, mothers and the stoic murmurs of the men.
Twenty centuries later, there are no appalling sights like the above, except of the series of graveyards. It was another historic turn that Ashoka embraced non-violence and Buddhism. Of course, since then and before that, the world has seen far greater devastations caused by wars, diseases and nature’s fury. Philosophy asks with which devastation we compare this pandemic.
Sometime during the first century, a bright star was noticed on a clear evening by three Magi. They were so wise that they predicted a great event in the east and they followed the star. After twenty centuries, man possesses almost twice his intelligence, with which he could predict, he could have more leisure because his extra-intelligence would now control his machines. Will this intelligence be more than the Wisdom of Solomon? Yet, man has not been able to observe the obvious when the pandemic started. The intelligence has not helped man rise above the greed and selfishness that was behind the catastrophe.
What has the pandemic taught us?
Work from home is a claim that has caught the imagination of executives, CEOs and is positioned as an alternative to the office culture. WFH seems to improve the productivity. It is surprising to executives. Philosophy teaches brotherhood and trust. Managers did not trust their colleagues, bosses that workers escaped work. WFH has revealed trust in workplaces. All the management theories and HR strategies didn’t help.
Finally, when will it end and where is our hope going to come from?
As with all things, this too shall pass. The majority of us will recover to the normal, while the minority will continue to struggle for survival.
Our hope for the brighter future will come from the fact that adversity is followed by opportunity — to rebuild, renovate and innovate upon the existing ecosystem and foundation. Destruction will lead to construction — of new technologies, new systems of living, learning and working. Man will be better economically and healthy.
Our hope also causes from the belief that this would not change our cultural, emotional attitude towards our own brothers and sisters, other living beings and the nature.
Our hope is that we remain the same.
Finally, our consolation comes from the acceptance of the reality. As technology produces unimaginable comforts to the reach of almost every common man, it also brings risks of side effects. We have to accept both the bounty as well as the curses that exploitation of nature through technology brings.
