SEMBLANCE OF NORMALCY

It is interesting how in the time of Covid-19 we try to maintain at least some semblance of normalcy and a positive attitude, i.e., optimism.  However, is this optimism a realistic endeavor? Am I allowed to ask this question at all, or will I be burned at the stake of optimism?

 What follows is not an attempt to engender any comprehensive or a novel thought, nor do I want to point out a solution, nor do I expect an a priori agreement. This is just a thought coming from someone who's stance regarding Covid-19 and the resulting madness is neither pessimistic nor optimistic. More likely pessimistic.

 In my opinion, no matter how you look at the situation and life under the threat of Covid-19, positively, negatively, or realistically, optimism somehow evaporates like a dew at 41 degrees Celsius.
There are various voices in the media telling us - we need to think positively, we need to see good in everything, etc.  I think this is unrealistic because the entire Western world lives in the state of depression, which basically means there are negative thoughts, thoughts of sadness, and thoughts of “nothing will ever come to any good”, to sum it up.

 When living in such a mental atmosphere, how can optimism be expected.  This kind of pessimistic viewpoint or rather, a disappointment, penetrates all the pores of the society and it ranges from disappointment in politicians, doctors who cannot cure even a cold, to the financial crisis and the threat of the third or fourth world war.  The latter depends on who is financing and who is against whom.

 For me, everything after  WW2 is a war on the common people. I am not a leftist, nor do I think that the serious left exists at all as a counterweight to rising Neo-Nazism or to Capitalism in general.  I do not equate Nazism, Neo-Nazism with Capitalism, mind you.

 Someone said in a lecture, I recently listened to, that we live in the Twilight of the Apocalypse.  It seems to me that the twilight is long gone and we are residing in complete darkness and the Apocalypse is a reality. We are now faced with thinking about death and how close we are to it.  How can one be optimistic in the midst of all the threats of the evergrowing illness and the necessity to lead a normal life? Are optimists those who live in the present moment and is living in the present moment a guarantee that one will have more positive thoughts and thus be happier or if not happier, at least, calmer.

 Does living in the present moment inherently imply freedom from worries, anxiety, and a frustrating feeling you can't change a thing?  If we agree that living in the present moment is where it's at. The answer should be yes, to all of these questions.  And is that so in practice?  I do not know. Probably not. Because it's almost impossible to live in the present moment these days. Unless you are a saint or something.

Are pessimists people who do not live in the present moment but have already looked to the future and have not seen anything that gives cause for happiness?  I come back to the optimistic slogans in the newspaper headlines advising us how to be happy in these troubled times.  It seems to me such headlines seem to be coming too late in the day.  The spirit of optimism should have been nurtured and practiced beforehand, i.e., before the reasons for pessimism and despair appeared.  When you live in a society where survival and long-term existence are in question, and when the same crisis is present almost everywhere in the world, which creates uncertainty, and when you sit down and think about it, when you look a little into the future and not live in the present only, then a black cloud appears on the horizon.

It's like when Frodo and his companions see a black formation, like a cloud, moving towards them. At first, it looks like a passing dark cloud, but the closer it gets, the ominous sounds of crows are heard, and Frodo realizes that it is a flock of crows which are in fact spies of the evil orcs.  This metaphor can be further developed but I shall stop here.  If you haven't read the book or watched the movie you don't know what I'm talking about.  Not to mention Tolkien's intention with this metaphor ( judging from what he wrote in the preface there were no metaphors intended, but none the less human subconsciousness works in mysterious ways).

 In a similar fashion, I see a dark cloud on the horizon in a closer perspective approaching very quickly.  In fact, we are already in it, and crows have long been a sign.  Not that I believe in omens, but the crow was de facto, and even until recently.  Anthropologically, in many nations, they foretell a foretaste of something ugly, evil.  If a man had farsightedness, he will see a dark cloud on the horizon, but in essence, he will not be able to do anything against it.

 The basis of this moderate pessimism of mine is exactly this - we can do nothing against that dark cloud, against evil.  We are powerless because it has gained in force and because it has been allowed to reproduce.  It gained in force because (true) love, so to speak, does not exist.  I’m not talking about love between a woman and a man.  The love I mean includes this one, but it is essentially a higher category.  Also, evil is multiplied because good people are silent.  My sarcasm and cynicism say the following - keep quiet and be stupid.

 I don't want to turn this into an essay, so I will end this with a notion that in the near future this prolonged encounter or hanging out with death, and therefore, memento mori - is quite alright, under the given circumstances.  However, in  perspective, there is still hope, if we accept that this thing  thing at hand is not a war between classes, but a war between evil and good, chaff and wheat. The fact not clear to many because they prefer to think in a more "realistic, pragmatical" way. They leave good and evil to fairy tales.  However, that's a grave fallacy.