There have been so many articles and opinions written about our time with the virus. Some are too optimistic and show little realism. Others spell doomsday for us and makes me wonder whether to get up another day. I find that I am not reading much about them anymore and I am trying to fast from engaging the news all day long. We know it will last longer than most people can imagine. But that is true of most bad news. It always is worse than we could have dreamed and it lasts longer---or the effects last longer.
Recently, however, I spotted an article that piqued my attention. It was entitled, “Covid-19 will change us as a species.” Whoa, I thought, that is pretty serious and a big claim. I was drawn to read it. It was a piece in CNN written by Marcelo Gleiser, about whom I knew nothing. With a little research, I found out he is Brazilian by birth and upbringing, but currently is a professor of Physics and Astronomy at Dartmouth College, my daughter’s alma mater. That means he is not a crackpot! Whatever he says, I am going to take seriously.
Now in his early 60s, Gleiser, confessed, “Before this turn of events, ours had been the generation that had, along with billions of others younger and slightly older than me, avoided a major global crisis.” A punchline in his article comes fairly quickly. He suggests, “The year 2020 will be remembered as a turnaround point in human history. Not just because many will die, but because Covid-19 is offering us a chance to reinvent ourselves.” That is a daunting, challenging claim to make. He talks about this struggle with the virus to be comparable to war. We have an enemy.
He makes a clever point when he shows that the enemy has a stealthy plan. The virus infects someone, and then that host person become a weapon of destruction and death wherever he or she goes. And often this host person does not even know they are carrying the bomb! Talk about an inside job. We become perpetuators of destruction, even when we did not intend to do so.
The article then pivots into his main point. He says quite bluntly, “Covid-19 will change us as a species.” That is a stunning sentence. He continues his line of argument. “We must respond not just as nations fighting an enemy, but as a species for our survival.” In his own way, this is a call to arms. It is serious, as he says, “Our vulnerability and co-dependence are openly exposed.”
He elaborates this point. “We would be foolish not to embrace the central message of our predicament: that we must come together to survive, that we are fragile despite our capacity to create and destroy, that the tribal divisions that have defined our moral choices over the past millennia must be tossed aside for our own good.” I find this kind of thinking refreshing. As proud as I am of being a citizen of this great nation, finally it is about more than nations. Any person of faith should be able to comprehend and agree with this.
I like the way he describes it. “We are entering the age of tribal override, the time when our species will begin to operate as one, as a human hive, working across the planet as a member of a living community of species and not as a destructive parasite.” I very much like his image of a “human hive.” It is an image that suggests co-operation, effective teamwork and mutual care and compassion. It is an image of a complex organization. Everyone has a job to do in the hive.
Hives are often called eusocial living arrangements. I know enough Greek to know the “eu” on the front of a word means “good” or “well.” Hence, the hive offers a good place to live and work, because it makes existence of all a really good thing. Hive-living should be optimal living. I think that is the vision of Gleiser. And I like it and hope we can move in that direction. Effectively, I think this is a different way of talking about the Kingdom, which Jesus proclaimed and, perhaps, a modern version of the Promised Land, which was part of the Jewish tradition.
Gleiser has some sage words to end his article. “We must think collectively as a human hive, each of us playing an essential role. The first steps are simple: to be humble in the face of what we don’t know, to be respectful of nature and its powers, and to work together to preserve not just our lives and those of our loved ones, but the lives of all of us in the hive, young and old, celebrating the gift of being alive.” It is easy for me to say, Amen, to his preaching!
It is easy for me to see this as a spiritual message. The message says it is about me and about you. It is about all of us---everyone of us around the globe. Our living context is a hive. In many ways that is not an American version of the good life. We have admired the strong, individual loner who has power and wants to get his own way. We can be arrogant about this and, often, selfish. That is not hive living.
Be humble and respectful. I like that recipe. Work together is a savvy way to go forward. We have learned already that key people are often the underlings who are working in grocery stores, firefighters, police and the cleaning lady. They probably know more about hive living that some of us. We need to be learners and supports.
We are all brothers and sisters in the human hive.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/26/opinions/covid-19-will-change-us-as-a-species-gleiser/index.html
Recently, however, I spotted an article that piqued my attention. It was entitled, “Covid-19 will change us as a species.” Whoa, I thought, that is pretty serious and a big claim. I was drawn to read it. It was a piece in CNN written by Marcelo Gleiser, about whom I knew nothing. With a little research, I found out he is Brazilian by birth and upbringing, but currently is a professor of Physics and Astronomy at Dartmouth College, my daughter’s alma mater. That means he is not a crackpot! Whatever he says, I am going to take seriously.
Now in his early 60s, Gleiser, confessed, “Before this turn of events, ours had been the generation that had, along with billions of others younger and slightly older than me, avoided a major global crisis.” A punchline in his article comes fairly quickly. He suggests, “The year 2020 will be remembered as a turnaround point in human history. Not just because many will die, but because Covid-19 is offering us a chance to reinvent ourselves.” That is a daunting, challenging claim to make. He talks about this struggle with the virus to be comparable to war. We have an enemy.
He makes a clever point when he shows that the enemy has a stealthy plan. The virus infects someone, and then that host person become a weapon of destruction and death wherever he or she goes. And often this host person does not even know they are carrying the bomb! Talk about an inside job. We become perpetuators of destruction, even when we did not intend to do so.
The article then pivots into his main point. He says quite bluntly, “Covid-19 will change us as a species.” That is a stunning sentence. He continues his line of argument. “We must respond not just as nations fighting an enemy, but as a species for our survival.” In his own way, this is a call to arms. It is serious, as he says, “Our vulnerability and co-dependence are openly exposed.”
He elaborates this point. “We would be foolish not to embrace the central message of our predicament: that we must come together to survive, that we are fragile despite our capacity to create and destroy, that the tribal divisions that have defined our moral choices over the past millennia must be tossed aside for our own good.” I find this kind of thinking refreshing. As proud as I am of being a citizen of this great nation, finally it is about more than nations. Any person of faith should be able to comprehend and agree with this.
I like the way he describes it. “We are entering the age of tribal override, the time when our species will begin to operate as one, as a human hive, working across the planet as a member of a living community of species and not as a destructive parasite.” I very much like his image of a “human hive.” It is an image that suggests co-operation, effective teamwork and mutual care and compassion. It is an image of a complex organization. Everyone has a job to do in the hive.
Hives are often called eusocial living arrangements. I know enough Greek to know the “eu” on the front of a word means “good” or “well.” Hence, the hive offers a good place to live and work, because it makes existence of all a really good thing. Hive-living should be optimal living. I think that is the vision of Gleiser. And I like it and hope we can move in that direction. Effectively, I think this is a different way of talking about the Kingdom, which Jesus proclaimed and, perhaps, a modern version of the Promised Land, which was part of the Jewish tradition.
Gleiser has some sage words to end his article. “We must think collectively as a human hive, each of us playing an essential role. The first steps are simple: to be humble in the face of what we don’t know, to be respectful of nature and its powers, and to work together to preserve not just our lives and those of our loved ones, but the lives of all of us in the hive, young and old, celebrating the gift of being alive.” It is easy for me to say, Amen, to his preaching!
It is easy for me to see this as a spiritual message. The message says it is about me and about you. It is about all of us---everyone of us around the globe. Our living context is a hive. In many ways that is not an American version of the good life. We have admired the strong, individual loner who has power and wants to get his own way. We can be arrogant about this and, often, selfish. That is not hive living.
Be humble and respectful. I like that recipe. Work together is a savvy way to go forward. We have learned already that key people are often the underlings who are working in grocery stores, firefighters, police and the cleaning lady. They probably know more about hive living that some of us. We need to be learners and supports.
We are all brothers and sisters in the human hive.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/26/opinions/covid-19-will-change-us-as-a-species-gleiser/index.html
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