Poised For Change

For our friends Marcia and Jim Brown, living on the last frontier, in Fairbanks, Alaska, Covid-19 epitomizes change: the Change, as prophesied by several religious texts as well as by the great mystics of the world. In fact, it was in its anticipation that they moved to the interior wilderness of the 49^th state, during the Global Oil Crisis of the early seventies. For, the great clairvoyant Edgar Cayce, who foretold the shifting of the Earth's axis, and the successive turmoil which would engulf the world, eventually to bring about a new consciousness, had warned his followers, `Stray not far from the shores of Fairbanks’. So, that is where they live, preparing themselves for over four decades for this defining moment. When they built themselves a cabin on a six-acre property of spruce and birch, they did so, conscious of the fact, that one day they would have to rise to the occasion to help their fellow human beings. With that in mind, they made sure to include a big basement to store food, and other important commodities. They weaned themselves of doctors, of health insurances, and of conventional medicines, relying solely on nutritious food and healthy habits. Even the birthing of their four children took place at home. “Only a post-apocalyptic scenario can force us out of the greed of the Capitalist model,” the Browns believe. They got a water well dug on the property, as not to rely on the chlorinated water from the local municipality, and even tried to make, like many others before them, a working model of Nikola Tesla’s perpetual motion machine to generate electricity without having to depend on outside resources.

The Browns’ basement is rife with sacks and sacks of rice, wheat flour, millet, quinoa, buckwheat, and dry fruits: all waiting to be used. “We can feed the whole neighbourhood for at least two years, if need be,” the Browns admit candidly.

Joe Fez, living on the other side of the continent, subscribes to a similar mindset. Growing up on movies, such as Contagion, The Road, Retreat, and Jerico-like serials, Fez found himself more and more attracted towards the idea of self-reliance, which he now advocates as the basis for a sustainable community life. Armed with a natural green thumb, he has not only been busy growing and harvesting vegetables through the long summer days, but also canning and freezing them for the bumpy ride he accepts in the foreseeable future. To him, owning a piece of land to grow things is the first step towards self-sufficiency he aspires for. Just as important, is obtaining a gun license, by which, if he is fortunate enough, he can bring home fresh meat to eat, bag and freeze. Yet another step in the right direction. Now, equipped with medical know-how, from years of working as a dedicated EMT, and an attic filled with grains, pulses, flour, and all kinds of basic necessities, Fez is confident that if the going gets tough, he is in a position to look after himself, his family, friends and neighbours.

Both, the Browns and Fez, share a vision which revolves around a starkly different envisagement of the future. And, undoubtedly, it stems from the apparent untenability of the existing paradigm, driven solely by a market economy. However, while the Browns aspire for a change in the human consciousness to usher in the divine light and supreme love,  for Joe, a change implies total social and economic restructuring, by returning to the very basics.

As for the environmentalists worldwide, and for the Gretas and Licypriyas,  the writing has been on the wall: If we don’t act now, if we keep pillaging our natural resources mindlessly, we are digging our own grave. Despite the coverage Greta’s campaign, and Licypriya's speech in London received, their words, like several other environmentalists before them, remained confined to reports, documentaries, and a collection of glaring data, all pointing to the countdown.

But then came Covid-19. Making a quiet backdoor entry through China, it soon took the centre stage, rampaging through countries, ravaging lives, creating fear, shutting down life as we know it in the 21^st century. It imposed the pause upon us, the pause that Mother Earth had quietly been praying for. A satellite map of Wuhan before and post Covid-19 illustrates the resilient and at the same time, healing quality of Nature, as a cloud of heavy pollution slowly lifts to give way to clearer skies and cleaner air. And lo, suddenly, the loopholes within our stereotyped, automated system  are in plain view. We have no criterion whereby to assess the challenges of such a pandemic, but we do know that our best response would depend on global empathy, cooperation, and community building.

We can no longer sustain a lifestyle which cruises on a conveyor belt regularity, and a  system which doesn’t give time to pause, to question, to re-orient, re-think, re-direct...for, it wants stability, not revolutions. Its goal is economic prosperity, not the freedom of the human spirit. As one Swiss economist confided, "it is no longer a question of keeping the economy afloat...but, a matter of keeping our humanism alive."