Although not necessary, but certainly a part of existence

KnowSelf

KnowSelf

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Although not necessary, but certainly a part of existence is illness. I am referring to Coronavirus COVID-19 CDC. and other fatal virus types.

All and all any virus or sickness that may occur is simply a part of and nothing to be fearful about. Perhaps human natured is flawed by what could happen or be rather than what is. I have 2 dogs, if one hears a strange noise she huffs and puffs and paces rapidly through the house. Everyone in the house is affected, we are caught up in the dog's frenzy because we are socially connected.

The other point I want to make is regarding empathy. Through the type of work I do; Human Service; I've learned the importance of detachment and boundaries. Perhaps that is why I view life as a living machine that in order for it to function there has to be birth and death, life cannot be any other way in order to replenish itself and move forward.
 
KnowSelf said:
Although not necessary, but certainly a part of existence is illness. I am referring to Coronavirus COVID-19 CDC. and other fatal virus types.
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COVID-19 is certainly not necessary. The pandemic was caused by humans, not nature.
 
Moreover, they said possibly unhygienic conditions in the meat shops in China with all kinds of animals and blood dripping around (that is what was in the news).
 
I'm talking about life, death, illness, and empathy. What if life was viewed on the basis of equality and not emotional attachment. What if all life forms were valued equally essential to ourselves and all else.

If we viewed life & death as one, without dread and fear of death I believe death and sickness would be less of an ordeal. I do not belittle life or death, only that I may understand it differently.
 
wil said:
And why isn't it all over China? Why concentrated in one province?
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Perhaps because they were able to contain it. Here in India also, there are more cases in Maharashtra (Mumbai, Pune) and Kerala, than the other places. Infection came in because of returning Indians and tourists from China, Italy, Spain, Iran, etc. As of now, 115 confirmed cases and two deaths. We have brought back hundreds of students and travelers from seriously affected countries. They are first kept in quarantine. So far, not bad, but we are keeping our fingers crossed.

As I see it, the main problem in India is people trying to escape quarantine thinking it to be a jail term and putting others to risk. Unfortunate, it is a necessity and must be observed. All state governments have not instituted penal measures against that.
 
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KnowSelf said:
What if all life forms were valued equally essential to ourselves and all else.
If we viewed life & death as one, without dread and fear of death I believe death and sickness would be less of an ordeal. I do not belittle life or death, only that I may understand it differently.
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What better situation can there be? Better understanding of life and abandoning superstitions will help us to accept death for what it is.
 
wil said:
The virus is spread by humans, naturally.
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When you say COVID-19 is naturally spread by humans, you're suggesting its spread was unavoidable in my mind. The spread was tied to profit seeking and China's openness to wet markets. Hence the spread of this disease was unnatural and avoidable.


wil said:
And why isn't it all over China? Why concentrated in one province?

Or did China stop counting at 80k?
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Cases were also reported outside Hubei province in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, for example.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019–20_coronavirus_pandemic_in_mainland_China
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True. Former Pakistan fast bowler, Shoib Akhtar, criticized Chinese by saying that Allah has given them so many 'halaal' things to eat, why do they eat 'haraam' things (i.e., cats, dogs, bats, etc.)? :)
 
KnowSelf said:
Although not necessary, but certainly a part of existence is illness. I am referring to Coronavirus COVID-19 CDC. and other fatal virus types.
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Yes, and what marks our humanity is the approach to the problems that arise in the handling of what are 'natural disasters'.

KnowSelf said:
All and all any virus or sickness that may occur is simply a part of and nothing to be fearful about.
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It's not the virus, it's the management of it. Good practice limits such possibilities. Plagues in the past slaughtered vast tracts of the population. That's how we learnt about bacteriology and that's why we developed antibiotics. TB is still very much around, but manageable, whereas my mother can remember her mother speaking of whole villages decimated ... healthcare is something to worry about, else we wouldn't mind if the dog shits in the house or the kids never washed ...

KnowSelf said:
Perhaps human natured is flawed by what could happen or be rather than what is.
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Well we can already see the best and the worst. In Spain the population of Madrid, self-isolating in their homes, threw open doors and windows to celebrate their healthcare workers after a request on social media:

While others stockpile for profit.

KnowSelf said:
The other point I want to make is regarding empathy. Through the type of work I do; Human Service; I've learned the importance of detachment and boundaries. Perhaps that is why I view life as a living machine that in order for it to function there has to be birth and death, life cannot be any other way in order to replenish itself and move forward.
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There you have it.

There are those who are quite prepared to let the weak, the dispossessed, the poor and the sick fall by the wayside, as the ongoing process of, as they see it, natural selection. The ones who stockpile for profit. The guy who had bags of pasta in his shopping basket who, when the old lady saw the aisle was empty, asked if he might spare her just one bag? He says no. There are always those who see their need is greater than their neighbours.

But you are not they. You give a ••••. You work in Human Services, because you care.

I applaud you for that. Keep up the good fight.

If only our govts thought the same way you do ...
 
Ahanu said:
.. The spread was tied to profit seeking..
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Exactly .. the world knew in January that a serious virus was circulating in China.
Here in London, we've had streets full of chinese tourists wearing masks for weeks.

Closing the airports now is much like "shutting the stable doors after the horse has bolted" .

I live near Birmingham UK, and pollution levels often breach EU safe levels. The authorities have
the powers to shut the motorway that serves B'ham city. They never have.
It's always b****y money :(
 
KnowSelf said:
Human nature is disheartening.
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Just as there is a problem for those who toil in the helping professions if they do not develop the necessary professional detachment to enable them to handle the situations they will be facing in their line of work, there is also a problem that can develop when that necessary emotional detachment in their professional lives transfers into the personal lives of those helping professionals.

Reading your posts makes me wonder if that has happened to you.
 
KnowSelf said:
Through the type of work I do; Human Service; I've learned the importance of detachment and boundaries.
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That is what Krishna said in Bhagawad Gita - "Be detached and perform your duty."
Now, I am a strong atheist. I do not believe that Krishna is a God or 'The' God. We do not know who composed BhagawadGita and who all contributed to it later. The language shows that it was written in modern Sanskrit sometime around the beginning of Christian era. I take it as a book of Indian wisdom, and this is what it says:

"yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi, saṅgaṁ tyaktvā, Dhanañjaya;
siddhi-asiddhyaḥ samo bhūtvā, samatvaṁ yoga ucyate." BG - 2.48

Perform your duty equipoised, O Arjuna, abandoning all attachment to success or failure. This is known as the yoga of equanimity.

yoga-sthaḥ - equipoised; kuru - perform; karmāṇi - your duties; saṅgam - attachment; tyaktvā - giving up; Dhananjaya - Arjuna; siddhi-asiddhyoḥ - in success and failure; samaḥ - equipoised; bhūtvā - becoming (taking them as); samatvam - equanimity; yogaḥ - yoga; ucyate - is called.

Gandhi too advocated 'Anasakti Yoga': Asakti (attachment), Anasakti (non-attachment).
 
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