Everything and Nothing

Human existence had increasingly been predicated on surface reality. This is not the reality of life.

Having disconnected and checked out from the inescapable reality of interconnectedness, we had ‘unknowingly’ imprisoned our whole species way before a novel Coronavirus slammed the door shut and locked us down and forced us inside.

Two years is a very light sentence for the unfathomable crimes we have  inflicted upon our life support systems. Life beyond our arrogant stance was/is bigger and greater and much more powerful than our insatiable consumer driven emotions could ever conceive. Our rational perceptions were/are subject to a tsunami of pleasure. Swimming, luxuriating, ultimately drowning in a whirlpool of decedent hedonistic never satisfied urges. Constantly reaching for that first hit, our addiction to stuff was on a train wreck. An awful and tragic crunching stop. Covid-19 wasn’t/isn’t personal and it hasn’t gone away. Its still here to remind us. To nudge, poke and alert us. When our human made conditions are ‘right’ it and/or other messages will be delivered. Unfortunately they are likely to be carrying and spreading much stronger consequences than SARS-CoV-2.

Bali is very quiet; many businesses are closed temporarily/permanently, and sale/lease signs are very common. Yet there are many establishments open and ‘thriving,’ such has been the brutal swath the pandemic has cut and levelled on this Island. This scene has been reflected around the planet, yet each nation, region, city, town, suburb, village, family, couple, and individual has felt completely and terrifyingly alone and isolated. The rallying anthem of ‘we are all in this together’ was humanities greatest moment and ultimate chance to recognize what this ‘event’ was all about. It was our collective opportunity to evolve, to leap to that next level, to take our place at the real-world level table and consume only what we need and not gorge on our never ever ending wants, urges. To deal with our destructive greed. We failed, not because we are stupid. Its just very simply, our nature.

Tourists are returning to Bali. The promise and commitment to come back will give Bali people hope and faith that they are not alone, that they and their Island matters. If all stays on track the Island will be back to pre-2020 pumping levels within 12 months, if not before. Whether that is good or bad is not an argument worth having at all. Bali people have/are struggling and suffering terribly. Everything and nothing has/is changed. It feels like we left the room and immediately stepped back in. Bali as an Island is as it’s always been, smells the same, looks the same, vibrates the same. Except all the stuff is not there and again its open to opinion whether its good bad or whatever. The reception on returning was beautifully warm gracious and humble. And the weather is also great. Its not the Bali of old, it’s the Bali of real. Bali and her people deserve our full attendance and respect.

Collectively we need understanding empathy and love and a very quiet nod of recognition to what we survived when many have not. To have dodged a massive bullet, for now.

​Its good to be back.