I just finished a novel about the pandemic that brought back waves of memories from that time. It remains surreal to me that on March 11, 2020, the world simply stopped. One day to the next, schools closed, businesses shuttered, and airports emptied. We couldn’t find toilet paper and scrambled to buy dry goods, just in case. Remember the bidet toilet fad? And then the hospitals in New York City swelled. Then New Orleans, Chicago, and Detroit. We all lost someone or something dear to us. A job, a loved one, a wedding, a funeral. Plans changed.
Three months ago, I found myself in the backseat of a cab in NYC for the second time post-pandemic, feeling simultaneously heartbroken by the scale of human tragedy experienced there and inspired by the resilience on full display on that warm spring day. Among the flood of memories, I began to wonder about uncertainty, how much of it we faced, and what we learned.
Yoga teaches us that the ego is the soul identified with the body. When the body feels threatened, the ego revolts. The ego’s inclination is to seek an answer, to find some explanation or enemy whose defeat will bring certainty back. Perhaps that is why we have seen a rise in populist nationalism on a global scale. It takes very little study of history to discover that great human-induced tragedies come on the heels of social instability and prolonged periods of uncertainty.
Paramhansa Yogananda counseled that when facing uncertainty, we should maintain an openness to the good while being willing to question. In that way, one sees God in all things, opens with humility to the lessons, and through calm perception, finds the dharmic response to any circumstance. Swami Kriyananda further advised taking uncertainty one battle at a time, one day at a time.
This attitude would have brought about different results had we collectively applied it during the pandemic. What if we had focused on the helpers, seen the highest in each other, and taken a day-by-day response to our brave new world? What if we had prayed Yogananda’s prayer: “O King of kings, train thou, in the camp of discipline, the nobilities of self-control and calmness in me. Be Thou their Divine General, like Krishna of yore, against the invading hordes of darkness, passion, and greed.”
I am certain that some of us did just that. Sadly, too many were caught up in the wave of ego-affirming separateness. For most of us, the pandemic was a wake-up call, but what we awoke to seems extremely varied.
As I am often inspired to do, I look to the animal kingdom for alternative ways to approach life. Horses, when faced with uncertainty, instinctively gather together and determine the best course of action. Their leaders take the input from the collective and choose a path that seems most safe, adjusting constantly as new information comes into their awareness. Trees send vital energy through their roots to their vulnerable neighbors. Birds call cries of warning, and the squirrels, rabbits, and foxes all listen.
It is the human, when acting from the ego self, that scurries into hiding and isolation in times of uncertainty. We hoard treasure. We use our intellect and our power to win against a perceived threat. The pandemic required our isolation, pushing many of us toward our lower instincts.
The battle of life is fought largely in the mind and heart. When we learn to calm them both, see from the highest vantage point we can, and listen for the whispers of truth in all of nature and in each other, we find our way forward one step at a time. When we come from that place of calmness, we are able to help others find that strength within themselves.
As we face the uncertainties in our times, may we return to Paramhansa Yogananda’s prayer for a united world,
“Let us pray in our hearts for a League of Souls and a United World.
Though we may seem divided by race, creed, color, class,
and political prejudices, still, as children of the one God
we are able to feel brotherhood and world unity.
May we work for the creation of a United World
in which every nation will be a useful part,
guided by God through man’s enlightened conscience.”