The Beginning of the Beginning
Today I’d like to share an essay I wrote back in April for the 11th edition of Puss Puss magazine. PUSS PUSS is an international, bi-annual magazine and online platform for culture, fashion, music and yes, cat lovers. It’s a true celebration of independence.
The Beginning of the Beginning
In mid-January I had a reading with Anne Ortelee, an astrologer based in New York. While the Coronavirus was spreading like wildfire through China’s Hubei province, the rest of the world naively looked on. For the past twenty years I have occasionally consulted an astrologer, predictably whenever I was at a crossroads. I am not an astrology fanatic, but I have found that a good reading can pull me out of a psychological rut.
What Anne told me, which isn’t personal to my chart, but a global astrological phenomenon, was that on January 12th Saturn and Pluto had met up in Capricorn. “So what?”, you ask. Well, the last time there was a Saturn Pluto conjunction in Capricorn was a little over five hundred years ago, on October 31, 1517. Martin Luther hung his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany protesting the Catholic Church and sparking the Protestant Reformation.
Why this is important? What it comes down to is that the Protestant Reformation represented a seismic shift in the way people thought. Beyond religion it affected politics, culture and intellectual life. Catholic Europe fell apart. The structures and beliefs that would define modern Europe were set in motion. The Reformation represented the triumph of literacy. It led to modern democracy, scepticism, individualism, capitalism, civil rights and more.
Armed with this astrological gem I immediately began to ponder its significance. I smugly warned friends of a difficult year ahead. They asked me what would happen, but all I could answer is something major. We mused what it could be. The election in the U.S? Trump’s demise? We wistfully wondered if Brexit could yet be called off. What about Hong Kong? Or maybe something would happen in China because of that virus? That virus, SARS-CoV-2, that had escaped a live animal market in Wuhan, China. Sure, it had entered my mind that it might play a role, but not that it would play the starring role.
In mid-January, even though I knew something big was in the works, what ensued was unfathomable. I would never have believed that within 6 weeks I would find myself shut in my apartment in Milan, allowed to leave only for “essential errands”. Little did I imagine February 14th, 2020 would be the last day my kids would go to school this school year. Nor would I have believed that helicopters would routinely fly over the city in surveillance and police would be on the streets commanding people to go home via megaphone.
Within a few weeks of Italy falling into this dystopian situation so would most other countries. From Brooklyn to Oslo, Vienna, London and Delhi, cities were being locked down everywhere. Suddenly, we are all sitting at home, watching as people get sick and die and economies crumble, wondering where this is all going. Wondering if this is the beginning of the end or, the beginning of the beginning.
One striking parallel with the Coronavirus pandemic and the Protestant Reformation is the role of communication as a catalyst. Martin Luther’s message would never have reached the masses if it were not for the advent of the printing press and his persuasive style of writing. The news about SARS-CoV-2 has been exponentially amplified (some would argue completely overblown) by the press, digital and social media and the rapid spread of information and misinformation through people’s mobile devices.
Another similarity we cannot ignore is the divide in Europe. The European Union was already showing signs of wear with Brexit and increased populism in many of its member states. This too is being exacerbated by the spread of the virus as nations fight to defend their own people. Will Europe splinter just as it did after the Protestant Reformation? Will there be a new world order? Where does China fit in?
There is talk about how habits have begun to change. How the air is so much better. How companies are embracing their remote workforce. How the “shut-in economy” is leading to a return to craft, to baking and cooking. We are all happy homemakers now.
I am not a fortune-teller or a sage or a guru. If you need those check your Instagram feed. I am sure Gwyneth Paltrow has had something profound to say. Maybe she has found the answer to the questions of Coronavirus in her vagina? Alternatively, I am sure you can find some Insta-Buddhist with wisdom to share. Let go or be dragged, the Zen proverb says.
I not going talk to you about your “Growth Zone”. You can check a graph I’ve seen on LinkedIn for that. Your personal transformation is your business. But I am interested in exploring what the profound changes are that we might be facing. No, I don’t have answers, but I certainly have many questions.
What is essential? We are told we can only go out for “essential errands”. I have noticed that I used to fill my life with a lot of inessential business. My house is full of inessential items. I have a closet full of inessential clothes. What will happen when I can go back to consuming as I did before? Will I do so without second thought? Will there be a twenty-first century Calvinism, a revival as thrift as a virtue? Will barter make a comeback?
Who do we look up to? Is it just me, or have certain influencers and celebrities become totally irrelevant, borderline annoying? There has been talk of the Coronavirus being the great “equalizer”. This is certainly not true when it comes to economic privilege, but maybe it’s true in this sense: We are all equally dull when stuck at home. Celebrities or artists that are captivating now are those that have something real to offer. Those that share their art, something that lifts the spirits. That makes us laugh or cry. Something that moves us, like Yo-yo Ma with his Songs of Comfort.
What do we want from our leaders? Now that’s a Pandora’s Box. There is a dearth of proper leadership worldwide. Will more people, more young people, become politically engaged, participate in the democratic process? What do we expect from our governments? What about social inequality? In the U.S, the virus is hitting African American communities much harder. Are we, as a society, willing to accept this? Could this be fertile ground for social reform?
What is the role of science? We’ve stumbled upon a huge tension between science and government. Science has been telling us for decades that a global pandemic loomed. Governments turned a blind eye. The other subject science has been warning us about is the environment. Again, governments have been very slow to react. Will this attitude now change?
In Western society we are defined by what we do. What we do equals who we are. Now suddenly, a lot us are doing nothing. We’ve been fired or furloughed. Our work is not essential. Does this mean we are not worth anything? Maybe we will finally evolve beyond this concept. And if that’s all that comes out of this Coronavirus crisis, then I think the shift has been profound enough.