Present world circumstances are painful, a huge amount of suffering
is being experienced by those who have lost their relatives, their friends, and by all of us who are witnessing this.

It is not what we expected from life.
The ground is shaking,
creating a deep fear, uncertainty, as to what the future will
bring us.
Now we have been exposed in daylight to the inescapable reality of change;
nothing can ever guarantee our psychological, our material security.

It would be naïve to think that one can stop the epidemic
with meditation or any other spiritual method;
But we can learn how to deal with the circumstances.

Of course we should follow the indication of not interacting socially
on a concrete level to protect ourselves and be responsible also for the welfare of others.

But many of us, out of paranoia, isolate ourselves psychologically,
closing ourselves in a narrow personal space devoid of joy.

This is a time in which we can encounter the ‘other’
in a way that has never happened before
in a way that is more authentic,
passionate,
not absent-mindedly, not on autopilot as we usually do.

It is a time to feel participation in the suffering of others
as well as to feel love for whatever surrounds us,
and to reconnect with other beings and re-establish our sacred
relationship with nature.

It is a time to make our being with others more authentic.
Now we are vulnerable, we can feel compassion and love.

Of all things we can do at this time,
when adversity unrelentingly pounds our lives,
compassion and love are by farthe most meaningful.

Of course our self-cherishing attitude always tries to block our way,
yet we don’t want to come out of isolation with the same thoughts
with the same superficial level of experiencing life
with the same identification with our the ego-consciousness.
We want to come out of isolation as better human beings,
human beings with heart.

Maybe in the deepest recesses of the minds of many of us
there is no wish to go back to normality.

Like an old Hopi Indian said, this moment we and all humanity either
enter a portal
or plunge into a pit, it is really up to us.

If we spend our time with the paranoia of contracting the virus, listening to the news and reading reports about the virus twenty-four hours a day, nervous and with a pessimistic attitude, feeling that we have lost our freedom, we have lost our flight, we have lost our chances
we fall into a pit.
But if we take this opportunity to rediscover what we have forgotten,
to look inside ourselves,
to see life and death in a different light,
to take care of ourselves and others, we will cross the portal.

We got used to being outside our home, at coffee shops and bars, socializing with friends thinking it to be a meaningful and entertaining way of life,
and while doing so we have forgotten to take care of ourselves,
we have forgotten to listen to ourselves in silence,
to listen to the melodious song of the blackcap,
to be enchanted by the wonderful colors that nature has graced flowers with;
we have forgotten to read the messages written in the sky
by the ever changing patterns of the clouds,
we have forgotten to let ourselves be absorbed in looking at the endless ocean,
the peaks of mountains,
without remembering time,
we have forgotten to lose ourselves in the horizon.
It is a time for cleansing our being and our planet,
and it is happening, even dolphins swim happily in the canals of Venice,
whose water is crystal clear now.

It is a time to clean our homes carefully
and to connect with our spiritual house.

Fear, difficulties, alienation
are good things, don’t get rid of them;
they are a passage for seeking our authenticity.

While being responsible,
we do not need to feel guilty
if we feel happy in rediscovering the beauty in ourselves, in others and in the sacred ground of nature.

In this difficult time it is helpful if good things emanate from us and the universe
because when the storm passes we will need, not just to go back to ‘normality’,
but to reconstruct a new world.

Let’s allow ourselves to take advantage of this time
to seek our vision.
It is happening, naturally we have established a routine
and practice the word of the Master,
meeting the sacred every day: it is wonderful.
Serenity in the storm is what we can do now.

Learning, yoga, meditation, knowledge are all wonderful,
yet
they are all in the realm of thought, in the realm of the known,
in the realm of what we can learn;
but what about being in the space reality that pervades all,
which is pure love without boundaries.
Has it occurred to you?

Elio Guarisco