Helen Keller once said, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”
She continues, “Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure.”
My interpretation of her point is this:
A life well-lived is not without risk, and too many of us are dismissing the mental, emotional, and even physical impact of shrinking ourselves to fit the current narrative of disconnection.
So many people have decided that the best way to stay healthy and safe is to acquiesce to tyrannical orders and just do what they’re told.
Following “official” decrees may anchor us when we feel untethered and scared of the future. However, when the solutions being pushed on us are above scientific scrutiny, grossly oversimplified, and quite frankly nonsensical, we must place fear aside and start asking questions.
In fact, one of the greatest lessons of 2020 is to Question EVERYTHING!
We may not have total control over our health, but we are also not at the mercy of our genes, as was once believed to be true. New research into epigenetics and quantum healing shows that our choices, diet, environment, and even our thoughts and relationships can and do have a meaningful impact on the expression of our health.
This means that even if we are predisposed to illness or disease, we still have hope – because we have the power to change our habits.
One particularly irksome phrase I hear repeated all too often lately is “the science is settled”.
By definition, proper science welcomes scientific rigour and must remain open to scrutiny.
Anything that’s placed above scientific inquiry can hardly be designated as science. Nuanced, critical thinking is absolutely essential during these times. We do not live in a black and white world, and we cannot expect ideal health outcomes if we treat each individual as if they are ghosts in a machine.
Technology is predictable, measurable, and gives reliable outputs in response to uniform inputs.
Human beings are unpredictable, messy, and have a huge range of variability.
We are not machines, and it’s time to let go of our outdated, mechanistic notions about the human body.
We have seen several generations now who have been raised to believe that everything will be alright if they simply do what they’re told by “the experts” and don’t make waves.
These lessons may have been useful in grade school, but blind acceptance is not the way that conscious adults are meant to live.
Too many of us are now immersed in such fear of daring adventure that we feign to be content (complacent?) with simply existing. We are living longer than ever, but nobody has much to say about the quality or vitality we can expect to look forward to in our twilight years.
One of the most terrible tragedies of the pandemic is how many elderly people’s social and emotional ties have been severed in the name of keeping them in good physical health. Meanwhile, modern science is quite clear about the positive health outcomes that are created by a strong social community, especially in the elderly.
Are we really keeping grandma safe by not visiting her in the nursing home? What about the heartbreak that she’s feeling at not seeing her family? Why are we not more concerned with the very real and frightening physical effects on grandma’s health that are a direct result of her manufactured state of isolation, loneliness, and depression?
Our health and well being is a multifaceted, dynamic thing that often defies conventional wisdom, and responds in ways we may not expect.
Is our fear so overarching that we’ve forgotten the myriad ways in which our emotional and social lives keep us healthy, whole, strong, and protected?
People of all ages are suffering alone under the guise of protection, quaking with fear – and friends, I worry we’ve lost our way.
In our zeal to comply with orders from on high, we have adopted such a narrow view of life and health that we are willing to accuse and condemn others for not sharing our perspective.
Fear is not a virtue. It gets in the way of conscientious, honest discussion of how we can truly seek healthy and sane approaches to living – both individually and as a compassionate, connected society.
We have an opportunity right now to create a more conscious, aware, self-determined world, or to submit to even greater governmental and technocratic control.
I choose expansion of consciousness over fear, connection over isolation, sovereignty over control, real health over-medicalization, hugs over distancing, and truth and love overall.
What do you choose?
